Us Against the World
by Black Rose 2014
Summary: Sequel to Becoming Us. Fili and Kili have managed to make it in the world on their own, hiding who they were from both human and mutant alike. But when a frightening visions keep haunting Fili, they have little choice but to seek out the help of other mutants in order to save not only themselves, but all of mutant kind. Unrelated Fili/Kili. XMen Au.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Keenan Tomkins."

Kili beamed at him as he walked across the stage and took his diploma. Fili couldn't help but grin back and cheer as loud as he could. After the graduates had tossed their hats and the ceremony was over, it was all he could do not to sweep the younger man into his arms and kiss that broad smile off his face.

He couldn't do that here. Kili's classmates, or rather "Keenan's" classmates, thought he and Fili were brothers. Fili even saw a few of his former classmates in the crowd. He, or rather "Felix Tomkins," had graduated two years earlier from the same high school. Honestly, there had been times that he had wanted to drop out, but he knew that he'd never convince Kili to stay in school if hadn't.

Kili had been against the entire idea of going to school anyway.

Fili still remembered an eight-year-old Kili pouting up at him and asking what they needed school for anyway. Fili had only been ten himself, but he had known they couldn't keep on living the way they had that first year. Sneaking into hotel rooms and tricking credit card readers into accepting a worthless piece of plastic as payment was one thing, but with the new registration laws, it was dangerous to live on the fringes of society. There was a much higher likelihood of being caught.

Trying to find the right apartment had been difficult before Kili had been talked into the idea. The brunet hadn't so much been against finding a permanent place to live as he was vehemently against going to school.

"I don't _need_ school," he had argued petulantly. "What can school teach me that I can't learn from the Internet?"

From any other kid, the argument would have been laughable, but from Kili, it was a hard one for Fili to find a good answer. All Kili needed was some sort of interface with Internet capabilities, and he could instantly download whatever he wanted straight into his head.

It had taken seeing a boy they knew from the streets getting dragged away by the heavily-armed NYPD Mutant Squad to finally convince Kili.

After that, it was easy for Kili to figure out which apartment's landlord's accepted electronic payment and rarely visited their tenants in their apartments. Unfortunately, there wasn't an apartment in New York that wouldn't require some sort of initial face-to-face contact to lease the apartment.

In the end, though, that hadn't been a problem. Fili managed to bribe a homeless man with some new clothes and some food to pretend to be their dad and rent the apartment. That's where the name "Tomkins" had come from. And for a warm winter coat, the man had happily signed them up for school as well, with Kili manipulating the school's computer system to crate a record of them from another New York school and fixing all their paperwork for them.

It was amazing how few questions people asked when they didn't feel suspicious, which Fili made sure they didn't ever feel, of course.

Because Fili was terrified that whoever had blown up Kili's apartment would be on the look out for another "Killian" to pop up somewhere, they had registered him as "Keenan," making it easy for Fili to get away with just calling him "Kee." Fili had become "Felix," partly for the same reason and partly because Fili _never_ wanted to go back to being "Philip."

Thoughts of the past and how far they had come to get here flew out of his mind, though, when Kili threw himself into Fili's arms, cackling with glee as the slightly shorter blond stumbled back a bit.

"Finally done!" he cried, the happiness radiating from him giving Fili a sense of satisfaction. Ever since he had his first vision of Kili, he had wanted to make sure he was always happy. "No more school for me!"

"No more," Fili agreed with a nod, wrapping his arms around the ball of energy that was Kili and savoring the feel of the other in his arms.

He wasn't cruel enough to try and convince the brunet to try college. Sure, he knew the technopath would whiz through everything with ease, but Kili hated trying to fit in with humans. He always said it made him feel deceitful, pretending to be something that he wasn't. Like he was lying to himself about who he was.

Fili didn't understand the sentiment, but then again, he hadn't grown up with mutant parents who had accepted and loved him for his abilities.

Instead, he got a father who would have dissected him as soon as he found out he was mutant.

"Can we go home now?" Kili asked, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he purposefully broadcasted his lust to Fili, who barely bit back a groan.

Kili had been quick to pick up how to send pointed emotions towards the empath. And ever since their relationship had crossed into romantic territory, he had gotten quite good at sending waves of pure arousal to his lover.

And Fili _definitely_ never minded.

"Yeah," he answered roughly. "We can."

Their apartment was only a few blocks from the high school, but they felt like _torture_ as he was forced to walk next to Kili without touching him like he wanted. They stumbled up the stairs to their second floor apartment in a rush, Fili fumbling with the lock before _finally_ getting inside.

Kili immediately pushed him against the closed door and devoured his lips. Fili sighed into the kiss, relaxing against the door and letting Kili take control.

He always let Kili have control. It was safer that way. Fili never wanted to risk doing something Kili didn't like, knowing that if he _did_ , Kili wouldn't stop him because Fili could inadvertently _make_ him like it by projecting his own pleasure onto him.

Besides, Kili always seemed happy enough to take the more dominant position in their sexual relationship.

"Bedroom," Kili growled as he pulled back, tugging Fili down the hallway and into their room. Fili batted Kili's hands away as he tried to fumble with the empath's pants and efficiently undressed them both within second.

Kili's eyes darkened as he backed Fili up until he tumbled back onto the bed, pulling Kili down on top of him. Fili spread his legs so that the technopath could settle down between them and moaned as their arousals rubbed against each other.

He'd never get used to this. Never wanted to. Even just this simple contact drove him wild with the feedback of Kili's pleasure combining with his own.

Kili was well aware of what Fili was feeling, too, as he smirked down at the blond and deliberately thrust against him. Fili keened at the feeling, nearly drunk with pleasure and arousal.

"You look so fucking good like this," Kili murmured, sending a wave of lust towards Fili that had him panting. "So responsive," he added as he tweaked Fili's nipples with his thumbs. Fili arched into the touch and moaned. "How did I get so lucky?"

Fili was pretty sure he was the lucky one, but didn't argue, just pulled Kili's head down into a heated kiss, losing himself in the feel of Kili's tongue and lips sliding over his own. He was so far gone that he didn't even realize Kili had grabbed the lube before slick fingers were teasing at his entrance.

"Kili!" he gasped, throwing his head back as one finger entered him.

"I got you, Fee," Kili whispered. Fili felt overwhelmed. Not at the touch or the words, but at the _emotions_ behind Kili's words. Love and awe mixed with lust and desire. It was a heady mix that had his head spinning. Thankfully, all that he had to do at that very moment was lay back and let Kili work him open.

He was floating in a sea of pleasure when he heard Kili calling his name.

"Fili? Are you still with me?"

With as open as Fili was in that moment, the concern Kili was feeling underneath his arousal was stronger than it should be. There was even a hint of fear. Fili didn't understand why. This was normal behavior for him during sex. Kili should be used to it by now.

"I'm with you, Kee," he slurred out, opening hazy eyes that he hadn't realized he had closed. "Please. Need you."

"I'm here," he murmured, leaning down to give him a gentle kiss while pulling Fili's knees up.

"Ah!" Fili cried faintly in pleasure as Kili pushed into him, panting heavily as the brunet bottomed out.

"Alright?" Kili asked, breathing harshly.

He nodded. "Move. Please."

If he were floating before, now he was _flying_ , Kili's pleasure propelling his own higher and higher. "Kili, Kili, Kili," he couldn't help but pant out as he approached his climax.

"Fili," he gasped back at him, almost reverently as his thrusts became erratic and faster.

Fili gave a high keen as he exploded between them untouched. Kili followed him two thrusts later.

He groaned as Kili carefully pulled out of him and sighed as the technopath quickly wiped away the mess on their stomachs before collapsing next to him on the bed.

"Love you," he muttered, burrowing into Kili's warmth and humming happily as Kili's arms wrapped around him.

"I love you, too," Kili said, emotions telling Fili that what he said was true. He pulled back to look at Fili in concern. "You've never been that out of it before…"

"What are you talking about? It was the same as always," he argued sleepily.

"No, it wasn't. Fili, you _scared_ me," he confessed, fear spiking through him.

That woke Fili up and he pushed himself up on his arms. "I'm fine, I promise," he assured him. "The emotions were just a little stronger today, is all. It felt good."

Kili frowned up at him. "You're getting stronger," he accused.

Fili draped himself over Fili and brought a shoulder up in a half shrug. "Maybe, but it's fine. It's under control."

Kili was right to worry, he knew. The last time his empathic abilities had gotten noticeably stronger was when he was going through puberty in eight grade. He had ended up curled in a tight ball in the handicap bathroom at school, whimpering as he was bombarded with emotions from what felt like the entire school.

It had taken him a while to adjust to the influx, having to rebuild and fortify careful walls to keep from losing himself. It had frightened Kili, but Kili had been the anchor that had gotten him through the experience.

He was sure that, with their relationship being even stronger now, any new power boost would be no problem for him to adjust to.

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," he mumbled, feeling sleep creep over him once more. "No more worrying. Today's a happy day. S'posed to be celebrating."

Kili chuckled. "I think the celebrating tired you out. Nap time now."

"Hmmm, good plan," he slurred as he lost the battle against sleep.

 _Kili cried out as he was hit with a blow to his head and stumbled back to cower back in the corner of his cell. Fili's blood boiled as he felt the fear and helplessness pouring off of his lover._

 _The technopath raised his head to look at his captor, a tall guard with an impenetrable visor hiding half his face. Instead of the shooting him the defiant look Fili expected, Kili just gave him the broken look of a dog expecting to be kicked again._

 _That was startling enough without the angry scarring covering Kili's left cheek, misshapen tissue forming an easily recognizable 'M.' Upon closer inspection, he could see a thin metal collar around the brunet's neck as well._

 _With considerable effort, Fili turned his eyes away from Kili and looked around to see where they were. On either side of them were long rows of cells, stretching as far as Fili could see. Fili glanced at the cells next to Kili, and saw the same 'M' scar marking their inhabitants faces, along with the same collar around their necks._

 _He looked back to Kili to see tears leaking from his beautiful brown eyes as they gazed up at the guard._

 _"Please, just kill me now," he begged._

 _The guard just sneered and slammed the door to the cell shut._

Fili gasped awake, minding whirring with questions. The first and foremost being where the hell was he? How had he left Kili to be turned into the broken shell from his vision begging for death?

"Fili?" Kili mumbled as he opened his eyes and blinked up at him. "Bad?" he asked, by now familiar with Fili jerking awake from a vision.

He just nodded and curled around Kili, pulling him as tight as possible and burying his nose in his hair, reassuring himself that Kili was _there_.

"Fili, it's okay," Kili soothed, wrapping his arms around his shaking shoulders. Fili hadn't even realized he was trembling until then. He knew Kili was trying to hide it, but he could feel how worried and afraid he was by Fili's reaction. "It's okay. We know about it now. We can stop it."

Fili shook his head. He didn't understand what events could possibly lead to the vision he saw. How could they stop something if they couldn't understand how it happened?

"Fili, please! Just talk to me," Kili pleaded.

 _Please, just kill me now_.

He shuddered as the words echoed in his head. He felt guilt crash into him. How could he ever let Kili get to the point where he was begging for death? Where _was_ he?

"Come on, Fee, don't shut me out," Kili cajoled.

Fili pulled back to look into Kili's imploring eye, unable to deny him anything. He sighed and told him everything, unable to meeting Kili's eyes as he told him that he wasn't there at all.

Kili furrowed his brow. "Is that what they do to the unregistered mutants? Mark them and throw them into a cell?"

"It's _not_ going to happen to you," he growled. "I won't _let_ it."

The worry and fear were back in Kili. "You said you weren't there and that I looked… broken, right?" He nodded and Kili swallowed thickly. "I think I know why. I think you must've… died."

Oddly, Fili felt relieved at hearing that. It explained why he wasn't there to stop Kili from thrown into that hellhole. It was better than him just standing aside and letting it happen.

Unfortunately, the realization hit Kili hard after he had said the words.

"Fili, we _have_ to stop it!" he cried, eyes tearing up. "I can't lose you too!"

"You won't," he promised, not entirely sure if he would be able to keep it.

He didn't understand why he got a vision that told him nothing about how to stop it. Usually, his visions happened for a reason. They showed him thing he _needed_ to see, needed to see to either change it or make happen it.

This one was different. He definitely didn't want it to happen, but it didn't show him how to _change_ it.

What was he supposed to do?

Kili sniffled as he scooted even closer to Fili, if that were possible. "I can't lose you," he mumbled again.

Fili hated the helpless feeling that came over him at Kili's sadness. It reminded him of how devastated Kili had been for those first few months, which in turn reminded him how close he came to losing Kili before he even met him.

He knew that it would only take a thought for Kili to be worry-free and happy, but he never wanted to manipulate Kili like that. He was already half afraid that all of Kili's feelings for him was a result of his unintentional influence. He would never purposefully use his empath powers on Kili.

"You won't," he vowed. "We'll just have to be careful, okay? Until we know more about what's going to happen."

Kili nodded miserably. "I love you."

"I love you too."

tbc…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Fili groaned as the alarm clock next to the bed blared and woke him from his blessedly dreamless nap. He turned in Kili's arms and fumbled with the cheap clock to stop the noise.

"Noooo," Kili moaned as he went to roll off the bed, tightening his arms around Fili's waist and pulling him back close to him. "Don't leave."

Fili chuckled and turned again to drop a kiss on Kili's frown. "I have to go to work."

"Why do you have to work?" Kili asked in a huff but loosened his grip and let Fili slip out of bed. "I can get us everything we need, including all the money we could want!"

Fili rolled his eyes as he rummaged in their dresser for some clean underwear. Finding a pair of boxer briefs, he slipped them on before shutting the drawer, knocking it hard to get it to go in all the way. It had been a cheap piece of furniture when they had bought it nearly ten years ago. Now it was practically falling apart, just like everything else in the apartment.

"If we use our abilities to steal from humans, then we're as bad as they think we are," Fili stated, rehashing the same argument he had with Kili multiple times. "Besides, it's too risky. Every now and then might not be so suspicious, but if there's a string of computer glitches that lose payment information or of ATMs being short on cash with their cameras spontaneously failing, people will start to notice. It's risky enough to pay our rent that way."

Kili scowled at him as he pulled up a pair of jeans. "I don't like you working at that place."

"It's a diner, not a strip club," Fili said in exasperation as he pulled a t-shirt over his head.

"In _Brownsville_ ," he spat back. "Fili, there was a murder two blocks from that diner just last week! What if…" Kili's voice cracked, causing Fili's head to snap up and feel guilty. Kili usually had a trickle of fear thinking about him working in the not-so-great neighborhood. With his fluctuating power, he had brushed off the fear being stronger today as just him being extra sensitive.

"Kili," he said, sitting down on the bed and pulling his now crying lover into his arms. "Baby, nothing's going to happen to me at work."

"Something's going to happen to you _somewhere_ ," Kili pointed out with a sniffle, clinging to Fili as if he could keep him safe as long as he didn't let him go.

"You don't know that," Fili soothed. "Nothing in the vision definitively pointed to my death."

Kili gave him a level look. "Do you really think I'd ask for death if I knew you were still out there, waiting for me?"

"You might," he replied in a choked voice, unable to bear the thought but needing to say it. "If they… tortured you enough."

He shook his head firmly. "No, even then, I would never give up on you. Never ask for death knowing you were still out there. Never leave you alone." The absolute loyalty behind the words humbled Fili, but it still wasn't proof.

"They might have convinced you that I was dead or something. That doesn't mean anything," Fili countered.

"Please don't go in tonight," Kili begged, giving him a wide-eyed earnest look that Fili could rarely resist.

He sighed. "I have to," he said. "If I don't, Larry will fire me for sure. There aren't a lot of places that'll pay me under the table out there."

Getting paid under the table was important or Fili would have quit the diner a long time ago. Kili might worry about the neighborhood, but he didn't know the worst of what working at the diner entailed. Fili hated keeping things from him, but there was no need to make Kili worry even more. Besides, as long as nothing happened, things would be fine.

And nothing ever _had_ happened.

"It probably wouldn't be that hard to set up an account in a bank's system and have no one question it," Kili mused. "I can probably even trick it into sending us a debit card. That way, we could set your paycheck up to be direct deposit and we wouldn't ever even have to go to the bank."

The problem with banks, Fili had realized as soon as he was old enough to have a job, was that they scrutinized certain things, such as IDs, much more closely than schools ever would. The only way he would be able to set up an account was to get a real, government-issued ID.

Which he wouldn't be able to do without a blood test, which would out him as an unregistered mutant.

And it wasn't just banks. The law made any place that cashed checks scrutinize identification extremely closely. Yet another measure to ensure that the mutant population followed the law and registered. If they didn't register, there was no way for them to cash a paycheck, so there was no way for them to live.

Of course, once they registered, nobody would hire them. There were no laws about mutant discrimination after all.

Fili shook his head. "It's too risky."

Kili threw his hands up in exasperation before crossing his arms over his chest. "Everything is too risky to you," he snapped.

Fili could feel the frustration roiling through Kili so he tried not to take the words personally. It was difficult though. "I only want to keep us both _safe_ ," he muttered, looking down at his hands. "There are people out there who will _hurt_ us if they're given a chance."

They both knew the truth of that all too well.

Guilt welled in Kili and he wrapped himself around Fili once more. "I know. I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just want _you_ to be safe."

"You really don't have to worry about me," Fili murmured. "Nobody ever tries to start any trouble in the diner." Mostly because Larry had shot the last person who had tried, but Fili didn't really want to tell Kili _that_.

Kili sighed but pulled away with a pout. "I wish you had a cellphone so you could text me that you're alright while you're there," he said. "You promise you'll be careful?"

"I promise," Fili said, turning so that he could pull on his shoes. "But you have to promise not to try and get a cellphone for me using your powers. Those things have trackers in them."

"Like I couldn't disable the tracker too," Kili scoffed. "But I know," he added before Fili could open his mouth. "You'd rather not risk it."

Kili's voice sounded annoyed, but Fili could feel the affection underneath.

"You don't seem to mind _me_ having a cellphone though," Kili pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I bought that for you with _real_ money," Fili countered, still remembering the day he had given it to the younger teen.

He had just started working full time at the diner after graduating, and he had wanted to do something special for Kili's birthday. It had taken a bit of saving, but he had managed to scrape together enough money to buy Kili an older model StarkPhone.

Kili had been so happy that he had impulsively kissed Fili for the first time. He had pulled back only a moment later, terrified that Fili would reject him. Fili, though, had just smiled before pulling him into a deeper kiss.

He had been waiting for ages for Kili to make the first move, not wanting to pressure the younger teen into a relationship and half afraid that the desire he felt from Kili at times was just caused by his own leaking out and influencing him.

"We don't pay for the service," Kili argued with a smirk, more for the sake of arguing than to prove any point.

"As if anyone could ever trace your hacking back to you," Fili said fondly as he tied his shoes.

"Can I come to the diner with you?" the technopath asked, changing the subject. "Please?"

"You'd be bored," he warned him, trying to dissuade him. "And I won't be able to talk to you much without Larry getting on my case."

"I don't mind being bored," Kili told him. "And I won't even make eye contact with you if you think it'd make your boss mad. I'll order coffee and bring a book to read at the counter. Please?"

Fili really didn't want Kili at the diner, but he didn't think he could tell him no without explaining why. And he _really_ didn't want to tell him why.

Besides, it was the night shift. Larry would only be there for an hour or two before going home. And the night manager, Lobelia, while not exactly the friendliest person, wouldn't care if Kili were there or not as long as Fili didn't neglect his work.

"Fine, but hurry up and get dressed. I can't be late."

Kili beamed at him and was up like a shot, throwing on clothes in a whirl of motion. "Ready," he announced, not five minutes later.

Fili couldn't help but smile fondly at him and lean in for a quick kiss. "Come on. We don't want to miss the bus."

It was only a half hour bus ride from their apartment in Prospect Heights to the diner in Brownsville, but the difference in the neighborhoods couldn't be more different. It wasn't so much how they looked, but rather how they _felt_. Fear and despair were heavy in Brownsville. It was a refuge for all of those people who didn't have anywhere else to go. Crime ran rampant, of course, but the whole population weren't criminals. Most of the citizenry just lived in fear.

Fili suspected, though he had no way of knowing, that many of the people living there were mutants in hiding. After the series of raids in District X in Alphabet City a few years ago, the mutants that had lived there had scattered. Brownsville was a great place to disappear into if you didn't want to be found. Most people who lived there had learned a long time ago that it was safer to just look the other way.

Thankfully, the bus stop was right next to the diner, and Fili was able to usher Kili inside without appearing worried.

Because although he never feared for himself when he came here, he wasn't going to take any chances with Kili.

He nodded towards a booth in the back corner, indicating that Kili should sit there. No one ever used that booth because the springs in one of the benches had broken somehow and anyone who sat there sunk down to the hard, wooden support underneath. Not like it ever mattered. The diner was never crowded. The only reason Larry stayed afloat was because he conducted some sort of criminal activity out of the back.

Fili really wasn't sure what that criminal activity was, but he was sure that he didn't want to know.

He left Kili to his book and slunk into the back to grab his apron and order book.

"Hello, Fili," Larry's oily voice greeted him as a wave of lust was directed towards him.

Fili turned to see his boss craning his head out of his office and giving Fili a leer.

When he was little, Fili used to have trouble telling his emotions apart from the emotions he felt from others. There were times when it was still difficult, when his walls were down or when particular emotions were very strong. Lust, though, was something that was very distinctive to the person.

Kili's lust felt like chocolate, smooth, rich, and delicious, tinged always with a pulse of sweet, enduring love. Fili frequently felt like drowning himself in Kili's lust.

Larry's, though, felt like old grease and gave him the sensation of raw eggs rolling down his neck. It was only his years of hiding his own reactions that kept him from shuddering in disgust whenever he felt it.

This was why he had always kept Kili from coming to the diner. He hadn't wanted Kili to know what a creep his boss was, and he _definitely_ didn't want to give Larry any opportunity to perv on Kili.

He reached out with his power and gave Larry a niggling feeling of having forgotten something, and watched in satisfaction as his boss's brows furrowed in confusion before turning back to his desk with a frown.

Fili could have just turned off any arousal Larry felt when he looked at him, but that would be too suspicious. Especially in Brownsville, where he was sure unregistered mutants were a dime a dozen.

And while he didn't know that Larry would turn him in, he didn't want to chance what the man would do with the information if he had it.

He dunked out of the back quickly before he caught Larry's attention again and scurried to take the order of a pair of skittish looking teens who had taken a seat at the booth in front of Kili's. As he approached their table, he was startled by the terror pouring off the smaller of the two while the other radiated wariness, eyes locked on the door as the other buried his head in a menu.

He was at their table when he froze as a vision hit him.

 _Six dark-clad men with the letters 'NYPDMS' stamped on their chests burst into the diner with their guns drawn, zeroing in on the booth where the two teens sat. The older teen shot up and pushed the younger one behind him as he shielded him with his body._

 _"Do not resist, mutants!" one of the men shouted harshly, spitting the word 'mutants' as if it were trash in his mouth. "Come quietly and you won't be harmed."_

 _"Pull the other one," the older teen snarled, pulling something out of his pockets and hurling it towards the men. Fili watched, stunned, as two of the men went down with throwing stars embedded in their throats._

 _The remained men opened fire. Bullets flew, peppering the older teen and the wall behind him, but oddly sailing through the smaller mutant cowering behind him._

 _Sailing through him and hitting Kili right in the forehead._

 _"NO!" Fili felt himself cry out._

He jerked out of the vision and stared at the two teens in indecision before leaning down and whispering, "Follow me _now_."

The older one, who now that Fili looked, seemed to be around his own age, gazed at him with suspicion that Fili didn't have to be an empath to read in his eyes. "Why should we?"

"Because you're going to die if you don't and you're going to take someone I love down with you," he hissed, turning casually and walking towards the employees only exit next to the bathrooms. Kili looked at him in askance as he passed him, but Fili motioned for him to stay put.

If things with south, he didn't want Kili to be involved.

He stepped out into the back alley where the dumpsters were and had to wait only a couple of moments before the two mutants came tumbling out behind him.

"Fire escape," Fili said without waiting for them to say anything. He nodded towards the rusty fire escape attached to the apartment building next door. "Take it to the roof and go over one building and then back one. The buildings are close enough together to get across. The roof door is always unlocked so you can take the stairs down."

He had mapped out this escape route for himself, just in case he ever needed it. He was glad about it now. If he could get rid of these two quickly, maybe the Mutant Squad wouldn't bother any of them in the diner.

Gratitude flooded them both, but the older one was still leery of Fili. "Why are you helping us?" he asked.

"I already told you," he barked. "Now go!"

He didn't wait to see if they took his advice or not and fled back into the diner. Kili caught his hand as he walked by his booth and looked up at him in worry. "Is everything okay?"

Fili nodded and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, though, the six men from his vision barged through the diner's doors brandishing their weapons.

He felt a flash of fear from Kili and he squeezed his hand, giving him a reassuring smile, before letting his hand drop.

"You!" one of the men pointed at him with a scowl. "Two teens just ran in here. Where are they?"

"Um, I think they ran into the bathroom," Fili lied, projecting trust towards the men as he pointed with his thumb behind him.

The men pushed past him and one of them swore, obviously noticing the exit back there. Five of them ran out as one checked the bathroom. Once satisfied the two weren't hiding there, he came back to question Fili some more.

"You didn't see them go into the bathroom?"

"I just saw them rush towards the bathroom," he said with a shrug. "I just thought they had to go, you know?"

He grunted at that, apparently satisfied by the answer because he rushed out after the rest of his squad.

He felt relief rush through Kili as he sagged in the booth.

They were both nervous for the rest of his shift, though thankfully nothing happened. After the incident with the Mutant Squad, Larry had took off towards home and Lobelia didn't bother him much.

Still, he was thankful for midnight to roll around and for his shift to end.

"Why'd you save them?" Kili asked in curiosity as they lay tangled around each other in bed once they got home.

"The Mutant Squad was going to kill them," Fili answered, reaching a hand up to cup Kili's cheek. "And they weren't going to worry about any collateral damage."

"And they call us the monsters," Kili spat bitterly. "They were just kids!"

He smiled ironically at that. "They were probably around our ages."

"Yeah, well, we had our childhoods taken from us by the same kind of people," the technopath grumbled back.

Fili wasn't really sure he had ever been a child. His first memory was of the pain and despair his mother felt as she lost her fight with cancer. He couldn't have been older than two. Kili, though, could have had a much better life if his parents hadn't been killed.

"I wish I could've saved your mom and dad for you," he whispered into the dark, blinking back tears as he thought of how much _easier_ Kili's life would have been if he had been a little bit quicker.

"You tried. That's enough," Kili assured him quietly. "You know, I was so excited that day," he added after a few moments of silence, nostalgia and sorrow swirling through him. "My dad wasn't home a lot, you know? But he had promised to spend the entire weekend with us. Maybe… maybe if I hadn't bugged him so much to stay then he would still be alive…"

"Hey, no!" Fili protested as soon as he felt the trickle of guilt beginning course through Kili. He pressed closer to the younger man and tucked his chin over his head. "Your dad wanted to spend time with you because he loved you! The only people who are to blame for his death are the ones who blew your apartment up!"

"Why did they do it?" Kili asked in a choked voice. "Were we the targets or was there someone else in the building they wanted dead? Was it just because we were mutants or was there something else?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I wish I did. But no matter who the target was, nobody would have the right to kill all those innocent people."

Kili snorted bitterly. "They weren't people, remember? They were _mutants_."

There were twenty people in the apartment building when it went up in flames, the bodies burnt and mangled beyond recognition. Most were presumed to be mutants, which explained the lack of medical records that could have identified the remains.

And because they were mutants, few people cared. Hell, even the _mutants_ hadn't been too concerned, what with Erebor falling that same day.

Nobody had cared that Kili's world had disintegrated in front of his very eyes.

Why would they? Fili thought angrily. He was only a _mutant_.

But Fili cared. Fili would _always_ care what happened to Kili. Would _always_ put Kili first.

"We _are_ people," he growled. "The world will have to realize that some day."

His vision from earlier, though, didn't bode well for that happening any time soon.

"I don't care about the rest of the world," Kili mumbled into his neck with a sigh. "I just care about you. Love you."

Fili smiled at his lover's sleep-heavy voice. "I love you too."

tbc…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

 _He was in the middle of an unfamiliar street. There were crowds of people milling around, most of them with cameras and phones out, taking pictures of something off to Fili's left. His eyes weren't drawn there, though. Something was niggling at his mind, telling him to look to his right._

 _Through the crowd, he could see them, standing stock still on the sidewalk. A tall man with long dark hair shot with silver next to a woman with flowing white hair. Neither of them were old, but their eyes looked ancient, as if they had seen far too much. Both were staring across the street radiating a fierce and angry determination._

 _Though underneath that, Fili sensed an aching sorrow that caused his heart to wrench in sympathy._

 _No one should feel the amount of anguish and loss these two felt under their fury._

 _Fili turned to see what they were staring at so intently and started._

 _The White House._

His eyes snapped open and he froze, breathing as sigh of relief as Kili's breathing stayed deep and even.

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was nearly eight. Knowing he'd never get any sleep after his vision, he silently rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

He dug the pancake mix out of the pantry and mixed enough batter to make a couple of pancakes for him and Kili, knowing that as soon as Kili smelled food, he'd be up. Deciding to spoil them both a little bit after yesterday, he grabbed the bag of chocolate chips he had bought for special occasions and mixed them into the batter.

Sure enough, as soon as the first pancakes were being flipped onto a place, Kili padded into the kitchen.

"I smell chocolate," he said, nose in the air as he exaggerated sniffing like a dog.

Fili snorted before moaning as Kili's arms came around his waist and he nipped at his neck. "Are you planning on eating pancakes or me for breakfast?"

"Can't I have both?" Kili asked, hot breath on Fili's skin causing him to shiver.

Fili all but melted into the love and desire Kili was showering him with. "I'm gonna burn the pancakes…" he warned, as his eyes fluttered shut of their own accord.

"Sorry," Kili chuckled with one final kiss to his neck before he backed away, grabbing the plate with the first pancakes on it and slathering them with syrup. He leant against the kitchen counter next to Fili and groaned as the first bite hit his tongue. "Have I told you I love you?"

"I see how it is," Fili quipped, flipping the last pancake onto his own plate and turning the stovetop off. "You only love me for my pancakes."

He knew it was a ridiculous notion. Considering how cheap pancake mix was, they had pancakes so often it was a good thing they weren't sick of them yet.

Still, Kili had put his plate down and had taken Fili into his arms quick as a flash, pushing his love towards Fili with an intensity that threw him. "I love you for so much more than your pancakes," he stated seriously.

"Kili…" he said, slightly breathless.

"I need you to know that," he continued. "I know you sometimes think you're forcing your own emotions onto me and making me love you, but you're _not_."

Fili cringed. He thought he had kept his fears secret from Kili. He hadn't wanted to worry him. "You don't know that," he couldn't help but point out, trying to step out of Kili's embrace but being pulled back immediately.

"I _do_!" Kili insisted. "You can only change people's emotions when you're near them. I've loved you every moment of every day since I was seven, even when you weren't around."

He swallowed thickly, feeling the overwhelming sincerity of Kili's words, the depth of the love Kili felt for him nearly flooring him. "I… didn't mean to doubt you…" he stammered out.

Kili rolled his eyes. "I know you didn't. I just wanted to put your mind at ease," he said, dropping a kiss on his lips before stepping back slightly and pushing Fili's plate into his hands. "Now eat your pancakes."

"Why now?" he asked, absently taking a bite of his dry pancakes. He didn't particularly like the taste of syrup.

"You're getting stronger," he said, picking up his own plate and shoving a bit of pancake into his mouth. "You were bound to start worrying even more," he added, his mouth still full.

It was Fili's turn to roll his eyes, turning and taking a seat at the table to eat breakfast like a normal person. Kili trailed after him and frowned at him when he sat down.

"You're going to have to be careful," the technopath told him.

Fili gave him an unimpressed look. "I'm not the one who gets power-happy, Mr. The-Toaster-Started-Smoking-On-Its-Own."

Kili pouted. "It _did_ and that's not what I meant!" he shot back. "You know how lost you can get when you're receiving too much."

"I don't get lost," he said with a scowl, stabbing his pancakes vigorously.

"You get lost," Kili stated matter-of-factly.

"When have I got lost?"

"You got lost yesterday!"

"That was sex! It doesn't count!" Fili cried in exasperation. "And I wasn't _lost_! I was… caught in the moment…"

He very nearly said _lost_ in the moment, which wouldn't have helped his case at all.

"You're so powerful, Fili," Kili murmured, reaching over to grab his hand. "I just… don't want that power to hurt you. I get scared for you sometimes."

"You're pretty powerful, too," he couldn't help but point out. "And you scare me when _you_ get lost in the Internet. You throw your mind so far, I'm afraid it won't come back," he admitted.

"I only connect that deeply when you're around," Kili promised him. "You keep me grounded."

Fili smiled at that. "You ground me too," he confessed.

"The difference is," the technopath said meaningfully, "I can choose when to connect. The emotions just bombard you."

He sighed. "I can't stop it from happening," he said in resignation. "I'll be as careful as possible."

"You can start by not going back to work," Kili told him.

"Kili, we've talked about this. Do we have to keep arguing about it?" he asked. "I have to work."

Kili pursed his lips in displeasure. "After what happened yesterday? You really think that's safe?"

"It's not about being safe, it's about keeping us fed," Fili argued. "And before you start, you are not using your powers to get us money."

"It's a big city! I wouldn't get caught! And I would just take food!" Kili exclaimed, throwing his hands up as his anger rose within him. "It's better than you putting yourself in danger!"

"How is you putting yourself in danger any better?" he asked testily, his own irritation fanned by Kili's.

"Considering you've been protecting me all this time, it's about time I returned the favor," he snapped back.

Fili froze and just stared at Kili for a moment, dumbfounded. Kili bit his lip and looked away shyly, obviously having said more than he had wanted.

"You don't have to return any favor," he said gently. "And I'm pretty sure we've taken care of and protecting each other all these years."

"Doesn't feel that way," Kili muttered with a shrug. "Fili, you saved my life and made sure I didn't end up on the street and even made sure I graduated from high school. What have I done for you?"

"You've kept me from going crazy from all the emotions and the visions," he pointed out. "And you've loved me. No one ever loved me before you. Hell, when I was little, knowing you'd love me one day was the only thing that got me through sometimes."

"Fili…" he breathed, awe and horror mixing in him. Fili had told him how his father was, but he hadn't ever told him that Kili was the first one to love him. He hadn't wanted to sound pathetic.

"So you saved me too," he said, blinking back tears. "Just in a different way."

Kili stood and pulled Fili to his feet before pulling him close. "I love you," he whispered over his lips before kissing them gently. "Let me show you how much?" he asked as he pulled away, tugging Fili towards the bedroom.

He smiled at the silly question. He didn't need showing when he could literally _feel_ it. But he went with Kili without protest, unable to deny how close he needed to be to the younger man in that moment.

#

"So what was your vision about this morning?" Kili asked breathlessly as they lay there panting as they tried to catch their breaths.

"Hmm?" Fili said, still hazy with his and Kili's residual pleasure still pulsing through him.

"The one that woke you up this morning?"

Fili hummed. "You were supposed to be asleep," he slurred, turning his head and resting his cheek against Kili's chest, the sound of his strongly thrumming heart comforting to his ear.

"I was until you got up," he replied. "I figured you had to have had a vision to get you out of bed so early without having to."

"I didn't understand it," he murmured with a shake his head, staring up at the ceiling as he remembered the couple from his vision. Why were they so sad?

The better question was probably why they were looking at the White House with such intense anger and determination, but that hadn't been what had struck Fili so strongly.

"I think…" he said uncertainly. "I think I saw two people planning to attack the president."

"What?" Kili cried, craning his neck to look down at him.

Fili shrugged. "Or at least the White House. I don't know. It was weird."

"Well it's nothing we need to be involved with," Kili decided, flopping back down and wrapping his arms even tighter around Fili.

He didn't say anything to that. They both knew that he couldn't ignore visions. He had never gotten one without a reason.

But surely Kili was right. It couldn't be up to them (they were a package deal, after all) to stop someone from attacking the White House. For all they knew, the White House _deserved_ to be attacked! Look at what humans had done to them, after all! Maybe that was why the couple he saw were so sad. Maybe they were mutants who had finally had enough.

In his heart of hearts, he knew that violence wasn't the answer. It wouldn't solve anything and might even make things worse. But he could understand the impulse. He could _empathize_ , he thought to himself, snorting internally at his own joke.

He let himself soak in the comfort of Kili's arms for a while before glancing at the clock and sighing. "I've got to go in for the lunch shift," he told Kili, who tightened his grip on him.

"I don't want you to go," he begged.

"I've got to," Fili said, disentangling himself from Kili's grasping limbs. "But we'll figure out something, okay? If you're that worried about the diner, I'll see if I can find another job."

Kili was relieved at that, and Fili didn't have the heart to tell him that he had looked for another job many times and had never found one.

Besides, maybe this time something _would_ pan out.

He hopped in the shower and got dressed quickly, rushing out with a quick kiss from Kili. He unfortunately still missed the bus he had planned on taking, meaning he had to wait for the next one and was running a tad late by the time he got to the diner.

Belle, the older woman who had probably been working at the diner for at least thirty years, glared at him when he came in. He was her relief and she didn't like waiting to go home. Even if it was only five minutes at most.

"Sorry!" he called, making a beeline for the backroom to clock in and get his apron. "I'm here. You can take off!"

She didn't need to be told twice as she pushed past him and clocked out before he could clock in.

He rolled his eyes and clocked in. He was just tying his apron when he blinked and the world around him had changed.

 _He was standing before a large, iron-wrought gate that was hanging off its hinges and bent outward. It gave him an ominous feeling as he read the twisted and barely legible words on the top of the gate._ Bag End Institute.

 _He glanced around, but there was nothing but trees and hills, though he thought he could see a paved road in the distance._

 _Which is what the gravel road he was currently standing on must lead to, he realized as he looked down._

 _He stepped closer to the busted gate, peering through the gaps in the metal and staring in horror at the crumbling shell of a very large mansion._

 _There were still lingering feelings of despair, pain, and terror clinging to the building, telling Fili all he needed to know about the horribly violent death the people who lived there must have gone through._

 _Without meaning to, his feet began to move up the drive, pushing open the gates and wincing as one of them fell completely to the ground._

 _Tears filled his eyes as he stepped into the mansion, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt as the smell hit him._

 _The corpses were still relatively fresh, so whatever had happened here hadn't happened too long ago, but they were beginning to rot. He froze as he neared the stairs, gazing in dismay as he recognized two of the bodies lying in a nearby archway._

 _The two mutants he had saved. Had he just saved them from one death only to let them go to another?_

He was yanked roughly from his vision as he felt hands grab his hips and pull him flush against a large body.

"Such a pretty thing," Larry's voice purred his in ear.

He could feel slimy lust smother him as he felt the bulge of his boss' arousal pressed against his back. He shuddered in disgust.

"Please let go of me," he pleaded, not wanting to resort to using his abilities if he didn't have to.

"Now, that wouldn't be any fun," Larry murmured, his hand creeping over Fili's stomach and inching towards his crotch.

Fili panicked and instinctively pushed all his fear and disgust onto Larry, who staggered back and crashed into the table behind him.

He stared at his boss as the older man pulled himself to his feet, projecting apathy into him and hoping to erase the disgust and fear.

Disgust and fear were too memorable. Much better to make him not care.

Larry narrowed his eyes as him before shaking his head. "Get to work!" he barked, shutting himself in his office a moment later.

Fili sighed and finished tying up his apron with shaky hands.

That was far too close.

tbc…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Order up!" Max cried from the back, sliding two plates of food onto the counter.

Fili grabbed the plates, trying to forget what had just happened in the backroom. "Which table?"

"Three," came the succinct answer.

He ignored the smell of the burgers and fries with a practiced nose as he turned. Larry never allowed his workers to eat anything at the diner unless they paid full price. Not even when it couldn't be sold. So Fili was used to smelling the mouthwatering aromas coming from the food he couldn't eat. It didn't even bother him anymore.

Some of his co-workers, he knew, slipped food when Larry wasn't around, and the owner was never the wiser. Fili never wanted to take the risk though.

Risks were bad.

He froze as the world shifted around him. Not again.

 _He was still in the diner. The sun was lower in the sky, causing darker shadows to be cast by the chairs onto the floor. A few customers sitting at booths were squinting their eyes at their companions._

 _"Felix, put the shades, for fuck's sake," Lobelia snapped as walked out of the back and took a survey of the room._

 _He hastened to do just that, walking to the far right corner of the diner and reaching up to grasp the cord that would lower the window shades. Before he could do that, though, he caught a glimpse of six black-clad and armed figures crossing the street towards the diner._

 _Mutant Squad._

 _Before he could even jump away from the window, they had burst into the building._

 _"NYPD! Nobody move!" one of the yelled, rifle at ready._

 _Fili was swimming in a pool of fear, despair, and anger, not entirely sure whose emotions were whose at that moment. He tried to stay calm. They couldn't be there for him. That couldn't_ know _about him. He had been_ so _careful._

 _Larry strode out of the back with a satisfied smirk on his face. "That's the one," he told them, pointing straight at Fili. "Careful, he'll mess with your head."_

 _Something stung him in the side of the neck before he could even process that Larry was indeed pointing at him. His vision blurred as he knees buckled beneath him. It took him a second longer to realize he had been hit with a tranq dart._

 _"No one says no to me, mutant filth," Larry spat as two of the cops grabbed him roughly under the arms and began dragging him towards the door. "I'll make sure they pay your brother a visit too!"_

A loud crash greeted him as he fell out of his vision. He stared unseeingly down at the broken plates at his feet.

"That's coming out of your pay!" Larry shouted, after sticking his head out to see what all the racket was. Fili's horrified eyes slowly slid upwards to look at his boss.

His boss who knew he was a mutant.

His boss who was going to turn him over to the Mutant Squad.

Who was going to turn _Kili_ over to the Mutant Squad.

He wanted to scream, wanted to rage at the bastard who thought that he could ruin their lives just because Fili hadn't let him molest him, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything.

Besides, maybe he _should_ have just let Larry do what he wanted. What was he thinking, fighting back?

Fighting back was always dangerous.

He averted his gaze. "Sorry," he mumbled, stumbling towards the broom to clean up his mess.

Max grumbled at him that he would redo the order, and Larry sent him one last glare as he popped back into the back.

Fili forced himself to breathe normally as he hastily swept the mess of food and broken ceramic into the dustpan and dumped it into the trash.

He had time. Lobelia didn't come in for at least another two hours. He had time to get away.

Unless his little episode had made Larry act sooner.

Shit.

He swallowed thickly before easing towards the cash register. Susan, the other waitress, eyed him oddly as he reached for the phone. Probably because he never made calls while he was working.

He never did a lot of things, really. He tried his best to be a model employee, never stepping a toe out of line, never giving anyone any reason to complain about him. Why had he chosen today to throw all that away?

He had already been late, dropped an order, and lashed out with his powers at work. What could a phone call hurt at this point?

Besides, if he was going to run, he had to give Kili a warning to get away beforehand.

"Fili?" Kili answered immediately, no doubt having recognized the number of the diner. A note of worry was in it, but just hearing his partner's voice was enough to settle Fili somewhat. "What's wrong?"

His mind blanked. They had prepared for this. There were things that they were supposed to say in situations like this if one of them wasn't able to talk freely. And Fili was certainly not able to talk freely. He could _feel_ the curiosity of the customers at the bar as they cast furtive looks at him. And the worry pouring off Susan as she poured them coffee didn't help either.

 _Kili_ , he told himself sharply. _Focus on Kili_.

"D-did you turn the oven off?" he asked in a shaky voice, finally remembering the codewords.

"Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay," Kili begged in a low voice.

"Kee, did you turn the oven off?" Fili repeated desperately, needing the technopath to acknowledge that he understood.

"Yes!" he cried with a frustrated growl. "I get it. I'm leaving now. But tell me you're okay and that you're going to meet me."

"Yes," Fili sighed, leaning against the counter in relief at the knowledge that Kili was leaving the apartment. "And I will. I promise. I've got to go, okay?"

Kili made a distressed little noise but immediately cut himself off. "I know," he whispered. "But please, be safe."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you too."

He hung up the phone with difficulty, not wanting to cut off the link to Kili but needing to leave. Susan and the customers were back to being indifferent towards him, obviously not thinking his conversation was of any note.

Good.

Fili walked towards the bathrooms with what he _hoped_ was nonchalance, but he felt so damn conspicuous with every step he took. It was a relief when he made it to the Employees Only exit and slid into the back alley.

He wasted no time scrambling up the same fire escape he had pointed the two mutants towards… was that really only yesterday? The escape route had obviously worked for them, and Fili prayed that it'd work for him as well.

He had to force himself not to run once he stepped out of the apartment building a street over. Running would only draw attention to him.

That didn't stop him from walking at a brisk pace though.

He couldn't use public transportation. The buses and subways didn't accept cash anymore. If you wanted to go anywhere, you had to purchase a pass, which again, required an ID. And though Fili _had_ a pass, thanks in no small part by Kili's abilities and the indifference the cashier had suddenly had that day, it was still connected with his false name.

The same name Larry knew him by.

So it looked like he was walking.

It wasn't a short walk, either, to the hotel Kili and he had decided on for a meeting place. It was about six miles from Brownsville to Brooklyn Heights. With the slow, casual pace he was forced to adopt to remain inconspicuous, it took him nearly two hours to get to the hotel.

The lobby was crowded enough that no one noticed him slip in and head straight to elevators. He sighed in relief as he was able to step on one alone and press the button for the second floor, where the conference rooms and ballrooms were located.

Kili, he knew, would be waiting for him in the men's restroom at the end of the hall.

That is, if he hadn't been caught.

He felt Kili's panicky worry before he burst into the bathroom, collapsing into his lover's arms as soon as he saw him and sobbing in relief.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out, trying to calm down but his emotions were going haywire. He was thankful the floor they were on was mostly empty, as he knew that he was leaking everywhere. "I…"

"Shh," Kili soothed, rubbing his back in comforting manner before stepping back from the tight embrace to maneuver Fili out the door and towards the elevators.

Fili was sure that the technopath did some sort of trick in order to get another elevator to themselves, but he was beyond worrying about Kili using his powers. Because it hadn't been Kili's powers that had gotten them discovered.

It had been his.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again after they were safely within an empty room Kili had no doubt claimed for them in the hotel's computer system.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about," Kili told him, pushing him on the bed and crouching in front of him. He reached out and cupped Fili's face gently. "Love, you've got to calm down. You're making the whole building feel guilty and scared."

"Sorry," he muttered again, trying to rein in his emotions. He pulled too hard, though, and instead of just getting his own emotions, he was bombarded by foreign emotions.

Kili's was the strongest, of course. He always felt Kili's emotions strongest. There was love because there was always love, but there was also worry, fear, and panic that made Fili feel even guiltier.

He could also feel the emotions of other people on their floor, though. There was anger, happiness, sorrow, fear, amusement, boredom, and more. Some were emotions that Fili couldn't even really put a name to. They were just there, all around him, drowning him, pulling him under…

"Fili, please, come back to me," Kili's voice and fear cut through the flood of emotions. Relief flooded the technopath as Fili's eyes opened and focused on him. "That's it. Focus on me. Block everyone else out."

It took Fili a few minutes, but soon he had narrowed his empathy so that he could feel only Kili. "Sorry," he said again when he felt like he could breathe again.

"You've said that already," Kili replied lightly, though Fili knew he was still worried. He sat down on the bed next to the blond and wrapped an arm around him. "What happened?"

"I was stupid," Fili told him bitterly. "I used my empathy on Larry and he noticed. I had a vision of them dragging me away before they went after you."

"If you used your empathy on someone, I know you had a good reason," he stated with certainty. "This isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is," Fili existed, getting up and beginning to pace. "I _know_ better. Using my empathy so recklessly? It was stupid no matter what the reason was."

He felt determination fill Kili even as the younger man stood up and put two firm hands on Fili's shoulders to stop his pacing. "Why don't you tell me what the reason was and I'll be the judge of that?"

Fili bit his lip and looked down. "You're going to think I did the right thing. But you're biased."

"Please tell me?" Kili said softly, bringing a hand up to cup Fili's face. His concern had increased with Fili's words, and the empath _knew_ he was going to let this go until he told him.

"He came up behind me and pressed against me," he admitted quietly. "When he was reaching for the front of my pants, I threw my disgust and fear at him."

Protective anger flared in Kili, who immediately wrapped him in a tight embrace. "Should've thrown a few knives at him as well," he hissed, tightening his hold on Fili. "If you think it would've been better if you had been fucking raped, then you need to think again. I'd rather never have a home again than have that happen."

"But we may _not_ ever have a home again!" Fili cried, looking up at Kili with tears in his eyes. "I blew our covers! They were hard enough to create ten years ago! The laws weren't as strict then! And it's so much easier to lie about where kids come from! Kili, I've basically thrown everything we've ever had away!"

"Not everything," Kili declared vehemently, eyes flashing with intensity. Fili was nearly bowled over at the sheer onslaught of _love_ Kili projected towards him. " _Never_ everything," he insisted in a softer tone, reaching up to stroke Fili's cheek. "All I need is you, Fili."

He shook his head. "You deserve more, though."

"I don't want anything if it comes at your expense," he replied pulling him close once more. "Don't feel guilty about protecting yourself."

Fili couldn't help shuddering as he thought about those hands on his hips, the arousal pressing into him, and, worst of all, that oily, slimy lust washing over him. He pressed closer to Kili and gave him an imploring look. "Help me forget?"

Kili's dark eyes looked at him in concern, but Fili wasn't having any of that. He surged up and brought their lips together in a heated kiss.

"Are you sure?" the technopath breathed as he broke the kiss.

He nodded earnestly. "Need to feel you," he pleaded, pressing open-mouthed kisses along Kili's neck. " _All_ of you. Please."

"Okay," Kili said, maneuvering Fili to the bed and stripping him slowly. Fili shivered as the air hit his skin and Kili's absolute adoration washed over him. "I'm going to take care of you, Fili," the technopath murmured as he mouthed a trail up his chest and neck. "Love you so much."

"Supposed to take care of you," he protested weakly before gasping as Kili nibbled his ear.

"We take care of each other," Kili shot back, moving to capture Fili's mouth once more.

Fili couldn't argue with that and gave himself over to Kili's ministrations and emotions, savoring the strokes and caresses that heightened the experience for him. He needed this. Needed to feel that Kili was still there. Still wanted him after what happened.

He felt drunk on the love and lust that were coursing through him. He felt wanted, desired, _needed_. Knowing that Kili needed him just as much as Fili needed him was a heady realization.

"Stay with me," Kili told him, kissing him softly as he stretched him.

He locked eyes with the dark eyes he loved so much. "I'm here," Fili promised before crying out in pleasure as Kili sank into him.

Feeling the love and pleasure surge through both of them, not sure which emotions were his and which were Kili's, it was too much for him to last. He sobbed as he came between them, shuddering as he felt Kili still above him as he spent inside of him two thrusts later.

"Shh, I've got you," Kili said as he pulled out and wrapped his arms around him. Fili hadn't even realized he was shaking with his breaths coming into short, hiccuping sobs until that moment.

He buried his face into Kili's neck, embarrassed at his behavior. He had never been this discomposed before. Not even after sex.

"No, don't be embarrassed," Kili told him, easing him away from his neck to have him sprawled across the technopath's chest. Kili's arms tightened around him comfortingly. "I like that you feel safe enough to let down your walls with me," he confessed. Fili knew he was telling the truth because, once he got over his own feelings, he could _feel_ just how pleased Kili was with him.

He smiled sleepily up at the brunet, feeling utterly content despite how hellish the day had been. "I love you."

"Love you too."

 _It took Fili a couple of minutes to realize where he was. He took in the rounded room, the seal on the carpet, the desk in front of the windows…_

 _It was the Oval Office. Why on Earth was he in the Oval Office?_

 _He was so confused that it was a few more minutes to realize he wasn't alone._

 _"—promise you that I am fully committed to bringing equality back to this country," a man in a suit seated on one couch was telling the trio of people seated across from him. Fili stepped closer to the group, ignoring the many black-suited men standing around the office._

 _He jerked back as he realized he was looking at the President._

 _"We appreciate the sentiment, Mr. President, but you'll have to excuse us if we don't take you at your word," the man seated in the middle of the couch told him. Fili started as he recognized him._

 _It was the man from his vision. The one who was going to attack the White House._

 _So why was he_ at _the White House?_

 _He glanced to the man's left and right, recognizing the woman as his companion from the other vision, but not knowing who the other was. He was imposing, whoever he was. If he were standing, Fili was sure he would be well over six feet tall. His tattooed head and bulging muscles only added to the effect._

 _They were all exuding a strange mix of suspicion and hope._

 _"And let's not forget you're just one man," the white-haired woman pointed out shrewdly. "How much can you do without Congress on your side?"_

 _"I have enough votes in Congress for this first bill to pass, and I promise it will make things better for the mutant community," the President said, sincerity practically oozing from him._

Fili woke up from the vision more confused than ever. What did it all mean?

tbc…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"I just don't understand them!" Fili cried in frustration as he paced the hotel room the next morning. Kili and he had gone over every unexplained vision he had had in the past couple of days and they were both at a loss as to what they meant. "Am I supposed to stop them from happening? I don't even know the people in them!"

"You knew two of them," Kili pointed out suddenly. "You said the two mutants you saved the other day were at that institute place, right?"

"Bag End Institute, yeah," he confirmed. "But I don't know where that is, and even if we could find out, is it really a good idea to go to the place that's going to be blown up soon?"

"Maybe that's where we need to start," the technopath argued, an excited gleam in his eyes. "Maybe that's where it all starts!"

"But what is _it_ , though?" he argued back, not loving the enthusiasm currently growing in Kili. He knew the prospect of actually doing _something_ was appealing to the brunet, but it _terrified_ Fili. "And why does _it_ involve _us_?"

"I don't know," Kili told him, standing up and stopping Fili's pacing by gently placing two hands on his shoulders. "But have you ever gotten a vision without a reason?"

"No, but I've never gotten one I didn't understand either," he replied in defeat. The image of Kili's face, with broken eyes and a large M scar, flashed through him mind. "And I'm scared of what might have if I can't figure it out," he admitted.

"Well, we can at least start with this Bag End Institute, right?" Kili said patiently, giving him a hopeful look. Fili could feel, though, the tiny thread of anxious dread that told him that he was expecting a no.

The empath sighed. He knew that Kili chafed sometimes under Fili's overly-cautious tendencies. The technopath had never pushed too hard, though, which Fili appreciated. But things were different now, and being cautious didn't seem like it was going to do either of them any good.

"Okay," he said, smiling a bit as surprise filled Kili. "How do we find Bag End Institute?"

Kili beamed at him and held up his StarkPhone. "Leave it to me," he said confidently.

Fili already didn't like this idea as Kili settled onto the bed and closed his eyes, clutching the phone tightly in his hand. Kili didn't often immerse himself so entirely into the Internet, though the couple of times Fili had watched him do it had been nerve-wracking to watch. The first time was to find an apartment complex, and the second and last was an unsuccessful attempt to find a way to get an ID without a blood test.

Both of those times, though, Kili spent less than five minutes that deeply connected. As it closed in on twenty minutes, Fili began to get worried. He couldn't feel any distress from Kili. Frustration, yes, which probably meant he hadn't found anything yet, but nothing that said he was in trouble.

The frustration was distant, though, as if he were feeling Kili from a long distance. And it kept growing fainter and fainter. Kili was slipping away from him…

He was just about to try to pull Kili back when triumph shot through the younger mutant and his eyes flew open.

"Westchester!" he announced proudly. "It's in Westchester."

Fili frowned. "That's a pretty big county to search with nothing else to go on," he said doubtfully.

"But it's a start," Kili said optimistically. "Which means, we need to catch a train."

Kili grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the door. "A train to where?" he asked in bewilderment.

"We'll start by getting to White Plains," Kili told him as they left the room and headed towards the elevator. "And we'll go from there."

Fili wasn't really sure this was a great idea, but he followed Kili anyway, which is how he ended up on the Metro North train headed to White Plains.

At least it wasn't crowded, he decided as he leaned heavily against Kili and stared out the window. He wasn't sure if he could deal with a lot of people around him on top of everything else that had happened.

"You should get some rest," Kili said softly. "I know you didn't get much last night."

He swallowed and shook his head. "Every time I sleep, I see something new," he whispered, not willing to say the word "vision" in public even in a whisper.

"Not sleeping isn't going to stop you from seeing things," he whispered back. "You see when you're awake too. And you need sleep."

He sighed. "I'll try," he promised. Between the uncomfortable seats and the glaring lights, he doubted he would have much success. He let Kili wrap an arm around him, though, and pull him close. He closed his eyes as he rested his head on the technopath's shoulder.

He was asleep within two minutes.

 _He was at the demolished Bag End Institute once more, just outside the broken gate. Fili felt like growling in frustration. He had already seen this. Why was he here again?_

 _He studied his surroundings, trying to get a feel for where the institute was located. Maybe that was why he was seeing this again. So that he could figure out where to go. There wasn't much to go on though. He could see a large body of water about a football field's length behind the mansion, but that didn't tell him anything. There were just too many bodies of water in Westchester County._

 _He was about to approach the mansion to see if he could get any clues from it when he heard the quiet sound of a car engine in the distance that was growing louder and louder._

 _He whirled around and frowned as he saw a black car approaching. Considering his past few visions, he really wasn't surprised to see the couple from before step out of the car, along with the man that had been with them in the White House._

 _The three stared at the mansion with stunned horror in their eyes. The tall man with dark, silver-streaked hair moved first, running towards the gate with a wild look in his eyes. Fili watched him not even pause as he reached the gate. He was sure he was going to run straight into the twisted iron, but the man threw out an arm and an invisible force violently ripped the gate from its hinges and flung it some yards away._

 _"Noooooo!" the man cried as he reached the mansion and fell to his knees in front of the open door, staring in horror at the inside, where Fili knew the bodies of people the man apparently knew._

 _Fili followed the woman and bald man to his side, feeling the unbearable heartache with all three of them._

 _"Who did this?" the bald man growled in fury. "Who would do this?! Who attacked a fucking school full of_ children _?!"_

 _"People who don't mind killing children if they are_ mutants _, Dwalin," the other man spoke, cold fury making his voice shake. "I think we've all learned that the hard way."_

 _"It still doesn't answer who, though," the woman said, determination like steel within her as she strode into the building. "And we won't get answers if we don't look."_

 _The bald man was torn between following her and staying with the still-kneeling mutant who seemed unable to overcome his grief to investigate._

 _"Bilbo wanted this to be a safe place for all mutants," the man spoke once more, tears filling his eyes as he gazed at one of the bodies lying in the entrance hall. "He just wanted_ peace _. I thought… with the meeting with the President…"_

 _"The meeting was a trick," the woman spat in disgust as she came back into view. "Come see."_

 _Fili followed the two men as they trailed after her down a hallway to the right. There was a large hole in the ceiling in front of them. Not just the ceiling, though, but the building itself, Fili realized as he caught sight of the blue sky above them. The others didn't focus on that, though._

 _Instead, they were staring at the missile shell that was half-hidden in the debris. Fili looked closer and gasped._

 _"U.S. Army" was stamped on its side._

 _"They will pay," the dark-haired mutant growled._

 _Fili looked back at him and was frightened by the crazed look in his eye. He looked at the other two, but they didn't seem all that concerned. If anything, they agreed._

 _The anger and hate building within the three mutants put him on edge. Fili knew somehow that this was it, this was the moment that would lead to the destruction of their kind._

 _Their thirst for vengeance was going to destroy them all._

Fili jerked awake so violently that he nearly fell out of his seat. He probably would have if Kili's hands hadn't been there to catch him.

He took a couple deep breaths as he tried to process what he had seen. What he had _felt_. It had been… different. He had never had such a sense of _knowing_ in the visions. As if he could see something beyond what was there.

He didn't like it.

"Are you okay?" Kili asked in a low voice, brushing Fili's blond hair back to get a look at his face. Fili hated the worry he felt in Kili, hated that _he_ was the cause of it, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

"Yeah," he tried to assure, though he was pretty unsuccessful. "It was just pretty intense. I told you it would happen if I went to sleep."

"You managed to get about an hour of sleep, though," he replied with a gently smile. "And maybe you learned something that'll help us with our search."

"I did!" Fili realized, righting himself in his seat and giving Kili a startled look, finally feeling as if he did something _right_. "A name. Well, a first name," he added, deflating a bit.

"Hey, it's a start!" Kili proclaimed cheerfully.

He rolled his eyes. "Starts seem to be the only thing we have," he said bitterly.

The technopath gave him a thoughtful look. "It's kinda fitting, in a way," he mused with a chuckle as the train started slowing into the White Plains station. "We're starting a new beginning to our lives, and we have all these starts to sort through."

"I didn't want a new beginning to our lives," Fili grumbled. "These new lives seem a lot more dangerous."

"At least they're more honest," Kili said, a flash of resentment shooting through him that surprised Fili. It was gone and replaced with remorse immediately. "I don't blame you," he was quick to add. "Being cautious and staying hidden kept us alive these past years. It's just… Fili, I'm _tired_ of hiding who I am. And I'm tired of you hiding who you are because you are _amazing_! Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad," he said faintly as the train came to a complete stop. He hadn't realized that he had made Kili so unhappy over the years. "I just wish you had told me."

"Look," Kili told him seriously, grabbing Fili's forearm to keep him from standing up like the other passengers. "I didn't tell you because hiding us as kids kept us safe. But we shouldn't have to hide forever."

"I just wanted you to be safe and happy," the empath confessed as he looked at the floor.

"And I was, I swear," the brunet promised, sincerity ringing through him. His hands found Fili's face and tilted it upwards so that the blond had to look at him. "But I couldn't be happy sitting on the sidelines forever, so please don't hate me for being glad that part of our lives is over."

Fili scoffed. "As if I could ever hate you," he replied, a smile playing on his lips. "Now come on," he said, standing up and climbing over Kili and pulling him up, surprising a laugh out of the technopath. "Let's go find our starts."

He was so busy staring at Kili's smiling face that he didn't notice when he bumped into a man behind him.

He spun around with wide eyes, bracing himself for the itchy feeling of irritation or even the sharp jab of anger, but was surprised when he received a blankness instead. "S-sorry," he stammered out, backing into Kili in an attempt to get away. The technopath's arms automatically wrapped around him to steady him.

The man, tall and pale with dark hair and a large scar cutting across the iciest blue eyes that Fili had ever seen, just smiled at the two before turning and stepping off the train. Though the encounter lasted less than ten minutes, it unnerved Fili. He was left with the unsettling feeling that he had missed something important.

"Did you see something?" Kili asked furiously, eyes tracking the man as he pushed through the crowds of the station.

He shook his head. "No. He was just… creepy," Fili answered with a shudder. "It felt like he had no emotions at all."

"Let's go before the train leaves with us on it," Kili muttered absently, steering Fili towards the doors. And none too soon, either, as the doors closed behind them as they stepped off.

"So where do we start looking at our starts?" Fili asked as they left the station, trying to force some levity into his voice despite still being shaken by the man on the train.

If Kili knew he was still feeling off balance, he didn't comment on it. "I was thinking the library," he replied. "There are lots of records there that haven't been digitized. And if you have a name, surely we'll find something."

"It is just a first name," he cautioned him. "But how many people have the name Bilbo?"

The answer, as they found out once they got to the library and Kili used one of the computers to access the census data for the area, was was 32.

"Well," Kili told him with a mischievous smirk. "It's a—"

"Start," Fili said at the same time, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, the name of the place is Bag End, right?" the technopath asked suddenly, excitement building within him.

"Yeah?"

"And if a guy name Bilbo owns it, then it would make sense of this Bilbo's full name to be Bilbo Baggins, right?" Kili reasoned with a grin, pointing at the fifth name listed on the screen.

"It would be a very big coincidence if that wasn't our guy," Fili answered, grinning back at the technopath. "You're amazing. Think you can figure out an address with the owner's name?"

"Well, I am amazing," he replied cheekily. "Give me two seconds." Kili concentrated on the screen in the familiar way that Fili had come to associate with the younger man connecting with the machinery in a way that he never could. It took him only a moment before he looked away and smiled in triumph at Fili. "100 Bagshot Row, Center Salem."

"Amazing," Fili murmured, unable to resist sneaking a kiss in the quiet corner of the library that they had taken over.

Kili blushed as he pulled back. "You're pretty amazing yourself," he pointed out, turning back to the computer and pulling up a map on screen with just a thought. "I never could have found it without you."

"We make a pretty good team," he commented before frowning at the dot on the map that represented Bag End Institute. "But now that we found it, what do we do?"

"We go there, of course!" Kili said in an excited whisper.

"What if it's attacked while we're there?"

"Then we stop it," the technopath stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Or at least save the people inside."

" _How_?" Fili asked, unable to comprehend the certainty filling Kili.

"There has to be a way," Kili said with a shrug. "If there weren't, you wouldn't have seen it."

"I'm not sure it works that way…"

The brunet gave him a knowing smile. "Have you ever had a vision that you tried to stop but failed?"

"Yes," he answered, guilt and shame welling within him. "I tried to save your parents and I couldn't stop that."

"Did you actually _see_ my parents die?" Kili asked, already knowing the answer.

"No," Fili admitted. "I just saw you."

"And you _saved_ me," he insisted. "And you saved yourself. And you saved those kids the other day. You've never failed to stop a vision once you've decided to stop it. And you aren't going to fail now."

He snorted. "I wish I had as much faith in my abilities as you do."

"You would if you embraced them more," Kili suggested gently. "You're afraid of your gifts when you should trust them. They're a part of you. They saved both of our lives so many times, and even brought us together. Stop hating them."

Fili blinked, unable to deny the truth of Kili's words but not really knowing how to respond. Before he could think of anything to say, though, the doors of the library burst open.

He wasn't even surprised to see the tall, emotionless man from earlier walk in. The slighter man at his side that burst into flames, though, was shock.

"Mutants!" a cry from near the door rang out, before whoever it was was silenced by a flare of flames as bright as the sun flowing from the burning mutant's hand.

Kili rose to stand by Fili, both of them clutching at each other in terror as the two menacing mutants deliberately made their way towards them.

Fili could still read nothing from the tall man, but the flaming man was radiating a directionless fury and a thirst to _hurt_ that made him tighten his grip on Kili.

"No need to look so worried, boys," the tall man said smoothly, smiling a smile that did not reach his cold eyes. "Fili and Kili, wasn't it? We're not here to hurt you. We're here to recruit you."

tbc…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Who are you? And how do you know who we are?" Fili demanded, surprising himself with how steady his voice came out.

The tall man's smile just widened. "You aren't the only ones with gifts," he said simply. "And if you join us, you'll be able to use them to change the world."

"And who exactly is 'us'?" Kili spoke up, voice full of disdainful confidence that Fili knew for a fact he didn't feel. He spared a glance at the technopath, wondering if he had a plan or if he was just trying to buy time. Considering the fear and worry twisting in the brunet, he was pretty sure that it was the latter. "You still haven't told us your names."

"We are the Brotherhood," the man answered, his flaming companion still silent as he watched Fili and Kili in mistrust. "And we have shed the pathetic human names given to us by those who would oppress us. However, you may call me Bolg, and my companion is called Smaug."

" _Bolg_?" Kili said incredulously. " _Smaug_? You picked your own names and _that's_ what you came up with?"

Fili gave him a sharp look and elbowed him lightly in the side. He knew the technopath was trying to appear brave, but his overcompensation was going to get him killed.

To his shock, though, Bolg laughed. Smaug didn't seem to find anything funny, but Fili was sure that Bolg was the one in charge of this little meet and greet. Given the resentment in the flaming man, he was fairly certain it wasn't a willing submission, though, so it was probably best not to push it.

"We give ourselves names that we deem fitting," Bolg explained with a casual sort of air about him that Fili did not trust. "The Brotherhood does not require its members to explain or apologize for who they are."

"So why do you want us?" Fili asked before Kili could say something that may set the two off, especially Smaug, who seemed to be losing patience by the minute.

Bolg smirked. "I saw your vision on the train. Seeing the future is a nice little trick to have."

"You _saw_ my vision?" he said in confusion. "You mean you saw me having a vision?"

"No, I _saw_ your vision," he answered, impatience in his voice as if he thought Fili was the dumbest person on the planet. The blond still could not _feel_ the emotion inside him, despite the frustration that he obviously felt. "My telepathic abilities aren't as strong as some, but that powerful of a psionic episode could not really be missed. You are very powerful, Fili, and we would love for you to join us in our mission."

" _Fee_ …" Kili hissed, fear spiking as he tightened his grip on Fili.

The empath gulped, eyes darting around the library looking for an exit that wasn't blocked by the two mutants. "Look," he said, trying to project calm and acceptance onto the two. "I really appreciate the offer, and I'm sure your mission is really great and all, but we're really not that interested."

He was gratified to see Smaug relax at Bolg's side, flames extinguishing as he shrugged. Bolg, though, just narrowed his eyes.

"My, you are powerful, aren't you?" he commented, taking a step closer to them. "That almost got past my shields."

Fili was frozen in fear as the tall mutant kept walking towards them. Though he could feel nothing from Bolg, he could feel the eagerness and bloodlust rising in Smaug. He was certain that they were going to kill them.

So thick was his fear at this realization that it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't that fear that was keeping him in place.

He literally _couldn't_ move.

It felt like an invisible force was clamped around him, keeping him in place no matter how much he strained his muscles to move. The sharp terror in Kili told him that the technopath was in the same situation.

Fury rose within him at feeling how terrified Kili was. How _dare_ this man invoke such fear in Kili! What had they ever done to them? What gave them the right to threaten them? To threaten _Kili_?

He would show them fear, Fili decided as he felt and saw Kili continued struggles. Anger coursed through him as he gathered every ounce of mental strength he had. He latched onto Kili's terror and tried to summon a matching emotion in himself. If the anger hadn't been burning so bright in him, he was sure the well of fear he created would have brought him to his knees, but he held on. He built the terror higher and higher, barely noticing the tears streaming down his face as he shook, the emotions nearly overwhelming him.

When he felt as if he could not take anymore, he flung the fear at Bolg and Smaug with all his might.

Smaug went down in a heart beat, sobs wrenching out of mouth as he scrambled backwards to curl against a nearby bookshelf. Bolg staggered backwards before dropping to a knee, shaking his head violently as if to ward off the fear that was assaulting him.

The reactions startled Fili, but he didn't have the strength to take advantage of them as he collapsed a moment later, only Kili's arms keeping him from going down as well.

Thankfully, Kili didn't waste a moment. He hauled Fili's shaking frame up and dragged the blond with him as he took off running past the Brotherhood mutants.

Fili at least managed to get his feet under him again once they exited the library, but he still felt disoriented. Kili immediately switched the death grip he had on Fili's waist to his hand and took the lead once more, turning right and taking off at a run.

Fili struggled to keep up with Kili's longer strides, but didn't complain. Not when he knew Bolg and Smaug would be up and on their trail any minute now.

They took a few more turns before Kili was pushing open a door on the side of a building and pulling Fili in behind him. Unsurprisingly, it was a hotel, which had always been their go-to hide-out. Of course Kili would have made sure to know where the nearest hotel was to them.

The technopath pulled him down the hallway and opened a random room. A startled shout, though, stopped him from even poking his head in, and he closed it in a rush, tugging Fili further down the hall.

The next room Kili opened was mercifully empty. They didn't have time to be poking into random occupied rooms, and they _definitely_ didn't want to attract the attention that would invoke. Ordinarily, Kili would get into the hotel's computer system to find out which rooms were vacant, but ordinarily, they weren't running for their lives.

Fili was still shaking with residual emotions, breath coming harsh in a way that had nothing to do with the running they had done. Kili pressed him onto the bed before moving away and returning with towel.

"You're bleeding," he told Fili softly as he sat down next to him, cradling the blond's face in one hand as he pressed the towel beneath his nose.

"What?" he asked, pulling back slightly and staring at the bright red on the white towel in confusion.

Kili gave him a stern look as he pressed the towel back to his face. "You pushed yourself too hard," he said in a tight voice. Fili didn't need to be an empath to know Kili's was mad, but he could also feel the worry fueling it so he really couldn't hold it against the younger man.

Not when he was a shivering, bleeding mess right now.

"I had to," he argued weakly. "They would have killed us if we hadn't joined them."

"Why?" Kili asked with a frown, lowering the towel after having wiped all the blood from the blond's face. Fili hated how lost the younger man felt. "Why would mutants want to kill other mutants?"

"I don't know, Kee," he said, sagging against the technopath as his exhaustion finally won out over his determination to stay strong. "There's so much that we don't understand."

The heavy truth of that statement stretched between them for a few moments before Kili sighed. "You need to rest."

Fili shook his head against Kili's shoulder. "No. It's not safe. If I have another vision and Bolg is still around, he might find us."

"You're practically dead on your feet, Fili!" he cried, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Besides, how are we supposed to get to Salem Center? I checked before those two showed up and there aren't any buses or trains that go there."

"Then we take a cab," he said, pushing to his feet with difficulty. He would have fallen backwards if Kili wasn't quick to stand with him and support him. "They all take electronic payment now. We can get there and get some rest in a different hotel before hunting down Bag End."

Kili was filled with disbelief and concern. "That seems risky… Fili, I know I said I was tired of hiding, but maybe you were right. I know I wanted to be doing _something_ , but I didn't know we were facing more than one threat, and I _definitely_ didn't want to put you in danger."

"This is _not_ your fault," Fili stated with as much strength as he could, wanting to stamp out the flicker of guilt he felt within Kili before it could take root. "You didn't start any of this. You were just trying to make the best out of a bad situation."

"And I made it worse," he replied in frustration. "If we had just stayed in Brooklyn and hid out, we wouldn't have psychotic mutants on our path trying to kill us."

"But doing that would have led to you locked up and broken in a cell," the empath pointed out.

"We don't know that," Kili said.

"I do," Fili said firmly. "I don't know how, but I know that that vision is tied with the other weird visions I've had. And no matter how much I want to stop the other visions from happening, I'm mostly doing all this to keep that one from coming true."

Kili swallowed and turned into Fili's arms to embrace him. "I still think I wouldn't be broken unless you were dead," he whispered thickly in his neck. "So don't you dare die trying to stop any of this."

"How about we both try to do our best to stay alive for each other?" Fili murmured back, bringing his arms up to hold Kili, as much to keep his own balance as to comfort the brunet.

He gave a wet chuckle at that. "Deal."

"Now, why don't you try and get us a cab here?"

Calling a cab without leaving any sort of trail to his cell phone was easy for Kili, and thankfully, Bolg and Smaug were nowhere in sight when they slipped out of the hotel and into the cab.

Kili had argued that they could just have the cab take them to the school itself, but Fili had been quick to veto that idea. He didn't know how secretive this school was supposed to be and didn't want to antagonize anyone there by bringing a human cabbie to their doorstep. So they gave the man the address to the local Holiday Inn, and nervously watched the countryside whip past them as they left White Plains.

It was probably the longest half hour of Fili's life, sitting in the back of the surprisingly clean cab as he clutched desperately at Kili's hand. He wanted to push disinterest in the cabbie's mind just to be safe, but Kili had made him promise to not use his empathy unless he absolutely had to until he had had a chance to rest more.

It was a risk, but luckily their human driver didn't seem that interested in them anyway.

Still, it was a relief when they got to the hotel in Salem Center and were safely ensconced in a room on the third floor.

Kili shuffled Fili to the bed as soon as the door was shut behind them, pulling his shoes off for him and all but tucking him in.

"I'm not a child," he protested weakly, unable to deny how heavy his eyelids were.

"No, but you are exhausted," he told him firmly. "You haven't been sleeping well and then you go and use more of your powers than you ever had against two of the scariest men I have ever seen. You need _rest_."

"They may have followed us," Fili argued even as his eyes slipped closed.

"I'll keep watch," Kili assured him, brushing his hair away from his forehead and pressing a kiss to his brow. "I'll keep us safe."

Though Fili was far from sure that Kili would be able to do anything if the two mutant did manage to find them, he let himself be reassured. It wasn't like he would be much help, either. Not with how exhausted he was.

The only thing he could really do right now was try not to have a vision while he was asleep. He was sure that would draw them right to them.

With that thought, he let sleep drag him under.

tbc…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Fili woke slowly, feeling slightly disoriented as he reached out for Kili and he wasn't there. He frowned. Kili never woke up before him, always wrapped around him like an octopus in the morning and grumbling whenever Fili told him he had to get up.

"Kili?" he said gruffly, cracking his eyes open before slamming them shut with a hiss as the light heightened the dull throb in his head to a sharp pain.

"Shh," Kili soothed as the bed next to him dipped down. Fili groaned as fingers began combing through his hair comfortingly, love and concern from Kili washing over him like a soothing balm. "I'm right here. We're safe."

Safe. That was good, he thought as he relaxed into Kili's touch. But why wouldn't they be safe?

The day's events came rushing back to him, and he sat up suddenly, wincing as it caused the throbbing in his head to become worse. Thankfully, Kili had turned off the lamps next to the bed at some point after he had first opened his eyes.

Kili slid an arm behind his back to steady him. "There's been no sign of the mutants from earlier. I think we're in the clear."

"We can't take chances," he said, even as he leaned heavily against Kili. How could he still be so tired? "We should leave now. Find Bag End before Bolg and Smaug find us."

"Fili, it's dark out," Kili pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure you couldn't walk to the elevator, let alone to Bag End. And while I don't mind carrying you, it'll probably leave us exposed to danger for twice as long."

Fili wanted to protest that he was fine, but he really couldn't. Not when he felt like he had been hit by a freight train. "Sorry," he said with a sigh. "I guess I screwed up."

"Don't be stupid," Kili scoffed. "You were amazing, not to mention you're the only reason we're even alive. You're just not used to using your powers so much. You just have to get used to it."

"I don't _want_ to get used to it," he growled, pushing away from Kili. "What I can do… it scares me," he admitted quietly, curling his knees up and burying his face in his arms. "If I lose control…"

"You've _never_ lost control," the technopath told him earnestly, wrapping his arms around Fili and practically pulling him into his lap. "Not unless you were in danger. Fili, you're so careful. You don't have to be afraid."

"You can't honestly tell me you've never questioned whether or not your feelings were your own," Fili accused bitterly, pressing his face into Kili's chest.

"I can too!" he replied fiercely, pulling back to glare at him. "I've never been afraid of your powers! Because I know you'd _never_ use them on me or anyone else without permission or a good reason! Fili, you have _got_ to stop pushing that part of you away!"

Fili sighed and looked down. "I just don't want to hurt anybody. Well," he added ruefully, thinking of Bolg, Smaug, and Larry. "Nobody who isn't trying to hurt someone else."

"And I don't want you to hurt _yourself_ ," Kili told him, brushing a kiss against his brow as he pulled him close once more. "And if you embrace your powers, you'll be able to control them better and you won't hurt anyone inadvertently."

"Maybe," he conceded. "Not that that matters right now. My empathy isn't the power that's bothering me."

"Have you tried practicing with your precognition?" Kili asked, understanding exactly what Fili was referring to.

"Practicing _how_?" he asked incredulously. "They just come to me. I can't control them."

"You've never tried," the technopath pointed out. "Maybe if you concentrated or meditated or something, you could force one to come to you?"

Fili frowned. He had to admit, the thought had never crossed his mind. He didn't know if it was even possible to force a vision, but if he could have one that explained what the hell was happening, it would definitely be helpful.

"It's worth a try," he said, sitting up and taking a deep breath.

"Not _now_!" Kili cried in panic, grabbing his shoulder. "Fili, you can barely keep yourself upright! You need to _rest_!"

He rolled his eyes. "I just woke up, Kili. I don't think I could sleep if I tried."

He couldn't deny that he still felt wrung out and listless, but he was oddly wide awake. Considering the danger he couldn't help but feel was lurking ahead of them, it probably wasn't a good state to be in considering staying awake all night would just make him exhausted tomorrow.

"Then let's just lay back," Kili said, maneuvering them both so that they were lying on the bed, Fili's head pillowed on Kili's chest. "And we'll watch some crappy TV," he continued, switching the television on with a thought. "And we'll just take it easy."

Fili sighed as he settled against the technopath. "This isn't going to work," he warned as he stared mindlessly at the screen. "How am I supposed to just 'take it easy' when Bolg and Smaug could be here any minute?"

"I'm not worried about that," Kili said confidently. "If we're in danger, you'll have a vision."

He snorted. "I wouldn't count on that. I didn't have a vision before they attacked us in the library," he pointed out.

"We weren't in danger then," he told him matter-of-factly. "You were able to get us away without needing a warning. So if we need to get away before they get here, you'll have a vision. And if we can get away from them without a warning, you won't get one."

"That logic will only hold up until we die from an attack we can't fend off and I don't see," Fili muttered.

"Fee, you've got to stop worrying," Kili murmured, dropping a kiss to the top of his head. "We're safe here. I promise. Just to reassure you, though, I've got an idea."

Fili looked up at him when he paused, frowning in confusion as he saw Kili staring intensely at the television. He saw the screen flicker out of the corner of his eye, and Kili beamed at him in triumph. He furrowed his brow before turning to look at the television, jaw dropping as he saw that the screen was now split into four smaller screens, one showing the show that Kili had put on before and the other three in black and white and cycling through security footage of the hotel.

"There," Kili said in satisfaction. He wrapped his arms around Fili and leaned back against the pillows. "Now we can just relax in peace."

Fili smiled as he tucked his head under Kili's chin. "That's better. Let's rely on your powers for right now."

"This is what makes us a great team," Kili told him smugly, pressing his lips to the empath's temple. "I love you."

He grinned before turning his head. "We do. I love you too," he said before capturing Kili's lips in a proper kiss. He sighed into the kiss as Kili's tongue snaked in to explore his mouth, and he arched his body into Kili's, drunk on the love and lust pouring out of his lover. This was a bad idea, but he couldn't help himself. The danger they were in and the low-grade fear that had been simmering inside him since he woke up were quickly being washed away by more pleasurable emotions flowing between the two of them.

Kili pushed him away gently. "If we keep going, I won't be able to stop," he told him with a rueful smile. "You are way too tempting."

"I don't want to stop," he murmured, trying to push closer to Kili. He knew it was probably reckless and an unneeded distraction, but after everything that had happened that day, he _needed_ to be close to the technopath.

Kili didn't give in, though, dodging Fili's kisses and pushing him firmly down onto the mattress and keeping him from squirming closer. "You need to _rest_. Stop making me be the responsible one," he teased.

Fili pouted, crossing his arms and relaxing into Kili's side. "I'd be extremely offended that you don't want to ravage me if I couldn't feel how much you _really_ want to."

"Please stop reminding me," he groaned, burying his face in Fili's hair. "I always feel like I'm taking advantage of you when you get like this."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a confused frown.

"When you get swept up in my desire," Kili explained with chagrined look. "I'm always a little worried that I might do things that you don't like but that you won't stop me because I'm enjoying it."

Fili stared him, dumbfounded. "Why would _you_ be afraid of that?" he asked. " _I'm_ the one who can change people's emotions! I'm the one who could make _you_ do things you don't want."

The technopath gave him a disbelieving look. "Fili, you're so open during sex that you can't control your own emotions, let alone anyone else's. You've never done anything that I didn't like. I'm pretty sure that you couldn't unless you're way more kinky than you've let on."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, you haven't done anything I didn't like either," he said somewhat sulkily. He wasn't sure _why_ it annoyed him that Kili brushed off his fears so easily, but it did, even if the technopath was right.

"I'm glad," Kili said, nuzzling into Fili's neck and making him feel a little less annoyed. "Maybe we should both stop worrying about hurting each other in this relationship," he suggested playfully. "It doesn't seem to be doing us any good."

Fili could feel Kili's grin pressing against his skin and the last of his annoyance bled away. He was right. Still…

"That's not going to be easy."

"No, but we can do it. We can do anything as a team, remember?" Kili reminded.

Fili cocked an eyebrow at him before flinging an around around the younger man and burrowing close. "You're getting awfully cocky lately."

He knew that a lot of it was bravado because he could feel the fear and nerves lurking beneath Kili's optimism. He wasn't going to call him on it though.

"Yeah," he agreed easily, arms coming up to hold Fili close. "But you like my cock."

"That was horrible," he said, elbowing him lightly in the side. "If you're going to make terrible jokes, I don't think I want to talk to you anymore tonight."

"You love me," Kili said smugly, turning the volume of the television up, not that it really mattered. Fili's eyes didn't leave the security feed footage, and about half an hour later, Kili was quietly snoring in his ear.

Watching the door stay firmly shut and the halls stubbornly empty was fairly boring. Between that and the peaceful content flowing from the sleeping Kili, it was no surprise that Fili's eyelids began drooping. He didn't think it'd hurt much to sleep a bit more.

 _He was the lobby of the hotel, a room he was very familiar with because of how intently he had been watching the security footage earlier. This wasn't good. This meant something was going to happen. Something that would put them in danger._

 _Fili forced himself to take a deep breath and push his fear away. It wouldn't help him now. He had to focus. Their lives,_ Kili's life _, might depend on it._

 _He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind the front desk. 2:15. Judging by the darkness outside, it had to be A.M., which meant that whatever was happening would happen soon._

 _He turned his head to stare nervously at the door, expecting Bolg and Smaug to burst in at any moment. It was surprising, then, that when the door did open, four unknown figures walked in._

 _Two of them were nearly identical, tall and slenderly built with angular faces and long dark hair. The only difference between the two were the eyes. Fili stepped closer to get a better look. While one had rather normal, if overall attractive, bright brown eyes, the other had a brilliant shade of molten silver._

 _The other two stood close to each other in a way that made Fili think they were probably a couple. The man had blond hair cropped short and icy blue eyes, while the woman wore her red hair in an attractive pixie cut and surveyed the room with emerald green eyes._

 _They didn't feel threatening, but their determined and wary emotions put him on edge. And though there was nothing that really pointed to the conclusion, he was sure they were all mutants._

 _"Are you sure they're here?" the woman asked her companions._

 _"The Professor wasn't able to pinpoint their exact location, but this is the most likely building," the twin with the silver eyes told her._

 _"Why would they come this close and wait to attack?" his brother mused aloud. "Is this a trap?"_

 _"We should be careful, just in case," the blond answered._

 _The automatic lobby door slid open suddenly, causing all of their heads to snap to look and the four mutants instantly took up a fighting stance as Bolg and Smaug strode in._

 _Bolg threw a hand out, and the other mutants froze. The anger coming off them told Fili that they were probably being held in place by the same force that had held him and Kili in place at the library._

 _The tall, pale man chuckled as he stepped closer to the trapped mutants. "Well, well, well, my master didn't think that Elrond and Thranduil would throw in their lots with a peace-loving fool like Baggins. He'll be interested in that little piece of information."_

 _Baggins! That meant the other four must be from Bag End, Fili realized with a start. Were they looking for him and Kili? But why would they have thought they would attack them?_

 _"The Professor is no fool," the redhead spat, fury welling inside her. "And even if he were, better a fool than a sadist like Sauron."_

 _"Sauron will lead us into a new age!" Smaug growled at her, his rage feeling as hot to Fili as the flames dancing at his fingertips. "One where mutants will reign supreme!"_

 _"Sauron will destroy us all, and if you believe differently, then_ you _are the fool," the blond told him, icy disdain directed at the fiery mutant._

 _"Why you little—"_

 _Bolg cut off whatever Smaug was going to say. "Where are they?" he demanded._

 _"Where are who?" one of the twins asked._

 _"The two mutants hiding out here," he snarled. "We both know that you came here to hunt them down as well. If you tell us where they are, we may let a couple of you live."_

 _They were talking about him and Kili, Fili realized. His eyes snapped to the four trapped mutants. None of their emotions gave their decision away, but Fili was sure they were going to give them up. Why wouldn't they? What were Fili and Kili to them? Why would they risk their lives for them?_

 _"We will find them whether you tell us or not," Bolg pressed. "We will tear this hotel apart. Do you really want to be responsible for all the lives in this building?"_

 _"There are only two lives we'll be responsible for," the redhead cried. Fili's eyes widened as her skin suddenly turned to shiny green and a blast of red light shot out of her eyes. The beam hit Bolg, knocking him back and releasing her companions from her hold._

 _Flames shot out of Smaug's hands, but they were countered immediately by a blast of ice shooting out of the blond's hands._

 _Fili glanced at the twins, but could only see one. The other was a blur as he sped forward and landed a few solid punches to Bolg. Red waves of power flowed out of the other twin, wrapping around Smaug and throwing him backwards, ending the stalemate he was in with the blond's ice._

 _The four mutants efficiently took the other two down, gathering around their unconscious forms after the fighting had ended. The entire thing had taken less than 20 minutes, as the clock on the wall behind them read 2:33._

 _"Do we kill them?" the speedy twin asked, looking uneasy at the idea._

 _"As much as I want to say yes," the redhead said, her skin a still shiny emerald, "we should probably take them back to the mansion. We need to understand what they were doing here."_

 _"Should we look for the mutants they were talking about?" the other twin asked._

The vision ended on that weird note as Fili woke up in confusion. What was the point? Was he supposed to stop the fight? It had ended with who he assumed was the good guys winning. Why would he want to stop that?

He glanced at the clock. 2:27. The fight was probably almost over at this point. What was he supposed to _do_ then?

He sat up suddenly, startling Kili awake with the movement. The people they were looking for were downstairs. They could take them to Bag End!

"Fili, what's going on?" Kili asked groggily, sitting up as well.

"No time to explain," he said, swinging his legs off the bed and shoving his feet in his shoes before standing up. His knees instantly gave out beneath him, and he fell back down onto the bed, cursing his own weakness.

"Are we in danger?" Kili asked urgently, instantly awake and helping Fili up.

"No, but we're going to miss our ride!" Fili told him, wrapping his arm around Kili's shoulder to keep steady. "We've got to get downstairs."

Kili helped him hobble to the elevators, where one was waiting for them curtesy of Kili's powers.

"Who's our ride?" the technopath asked as the elevator sank downwards.

Fili gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm not exactly sure, but they just beat up Bolg and Smaug and they are taking them to Bag End. I figured they'd be willing to let us tag along."

Kili didn't feel nearly as sure about the whole thing as Fili was, but he helped him out of the elevator and into the lobby, whistling lowly as he took in the damage left over from the fight.

"—look for the mutants they were talking about?" one of the twins was saying.

"No need," Fili said, projecting much more confidence than he felt and causing the four of them to whirl around and take up defensive stances. "We were kinda hoping to get a ride?"

tbc…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The four mutants from Bag End led Fili and Kili outside to a dark, sleek van parked in the hotel carport. The speedy twin with the silver eyes, who the blond had called Elrohir, had darted forward to start the car. His brother, Elladan, was using his red swirling energy to lift the two unconscious mutants to the van.

The blond and redhead were flanking Fili and Kili. Fili could feel the waves of mistrust and suspicion coming off the two. He couldn't blame them. They were two unknown mutants who happened to show up just as the fighting was over and ask for a ride to what was supposed to be some sort of secret hiding place for mutants.

They were pretty suspicious, Fili had to admit.

"Get in," the blond ordered as they reached the van, tone as icy as his powers.

Fili motioned for Kili to go first, not wanting to leave the younger man alone with the hostile mutants for a moment. Just because their distrust was understandable didn't mean _he_ was going to trust them with _Kili_.

He climbed in right after him, surprised to find that the back of the van had been modified so that there were padded bench seats running on either side, leaving the middle largely free. Currently, this free space was being taken up be the unconscious figures of Bolg and Smaug crammed together near the back and guarded by Elladan's watchful eye.

Kili was sitting near the front on the side opposite the door and Fili took a seat next to him, crowding him against the driver seat in an attempt to put as much distance between them and the mutants who had been hunting them.

"We should blindfold them," the blond said after he and Tauriel had gotten in and Elrohir began driving.

"Calm down, Legolas. If these two were after them," Elladan said, gesturing towards Bolg and Smaug, "then I'm sure we can trust them."

"The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend," the redhead pointed out, eyeing Fili and Kili carefully. This was concerning, as Fili knew exactly the power those eyes held.

"It's not like we don't know the address," Kili spoke up with amusement in his voice, even as protectiveness flared within him as he wrapped an arm around Fili's waist. "You're really just saving us a cab ride."

Legolas narrowed his eyes. "And just how do you know that?"

"I think that's a story best left for when we get to Bag End," Fili said, giving Kili's knee a comforting squeeze. He wanted to reach out and project trust onto the other mutants, but he wasn't sure if that was the best way of actually gaining their trust.

He really didn't know how he was going to explain the things he knew once they got to Bag End. He wasn't too enthusiastic about the prospect of telling all of them about his visions, and he had no idea how he would be able to convince them even if he _did_.

And he certainly didn't want to tell them about Kili's abilities. Not until he was absolutely positive they wouldn't try to use him. Fili wasn't stupid. With the pervasiveness of technology in the world, there was very little that Kili couldn't do if he stretched himself far enough. If known, it would be a coveted power.

"So why were these two after you?" Elladan asked good-naturedly, nudging Smaug with his toe.

"Fili bumped into one of them on the train," Kili replied smoothly. "Must've made him mad."

"I'm guessing blondie here is Fili?" the redhead quipped, tilting her head towards him. "Now who does that make you?"

"You haven't told us your names," Fili retorted. "What makes you entitled to ours?"

"We aren't the ones bumming a ride," she shot back hotly, but Fili could sense that she was more amused than angry, even if her suspicion persisted.

"Her name is Tauriel," Elrohir chirped from the driver's seat, shooting her a grin in the mirror as she glared at him. "And if you haven't caught on, I'm Elrohir, that's Elladan, my brother, in the back, and the blond is Legolas."

Elladan snickered while the other two radiated exasperation.

"It's nice to meet you," Fili replied curtly, purposefully not returning the favor. He shot Kili a confused look at the guilt he suddenly felt coming from him.

"Oh come on!" Elladan pouted after he realized Fili wasn't about to give them their names. "You know our names! And we already know your name! What's the big deal?"

Fili scowled at them and snaked a possessive arm around Kili. "I know who would want me dead," he said seriously, thinking of his father and repressing a shudder at the memory of his frightening vision of being experimented on. "But I don't know who would try to kill him and I'd rather not taken any chances."

Tauriel gave them a speculative look. "You know, knowing people are trying to kill the both of you doesn't really give us reason to trust you."

"Well, we're here," Elrohir chimed in, slowing down as a familiar iron gate swung open before continuing up the drive. "Too late to kick them out of the van now."

Fili stared up at the mansion after getting out of the van. It looked bigger than it had in his vision. More imposing. It was hard to believe that in such a short time, it would be reduced to a crumbling shell.

"Sorry," Kili whispered, leaning in close and pitching his voice so low that only Fili could hear. "I shouldn't have said your name."

He shook his head with a smile. So that's why Kili was feeling guilty. "It's okay," he whispered back. "The only people who might be after me don't know me by Fili and would never work with mutants."

He wasn't so sure he could say the same for Kili. They had always assumed that the people who had bombed his apartment building had been anti-mutant humans. But with the realization that mutants were fighting mutants, he couldn't be sure anymore.

They were led into a large entrance hall, one that Fili had seen before, only then it in tatters with the bodies of dead mutants strewn about. Seeing it now made his stomach bubble with unease.

"I see you brought home company."

Fili turned his attention to the four figures that had been waiting for them. The smallest of them was the one who had spoken, a short, unassuming-looking man wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches and smiling fondly. The other three did not seem nearly as thrilled at his and Fili's presence. Or maybe their distaste was for the unconscious mutants Elladan had set down on the floor.

"They asked for a ride," Elladan said simply with a shrug.

"Yes, but why?" the tall blond man that bore a strong resemblance to Legolas asked, a shrewd look in his eye. Fili couldn't quite place the emotion he was feeling. It wasn't quite suspicious. It had the same feel, but with an edge of sharp eagerness that he didn't understand.

The annoyance that shot out of the shorter man, though, was quite familiar. "I've told you, Thranduil, _all_ mutants are welcomed here, without being subject to an interrogation, mind you," he scolded, snapping his head to the side to glare at him with a scowl. He turned his head back to Fili and a warm smile instantly replaced the scowl. "You are quite welcome here. I am Professor Bilbo Baggins. I run this school. And these are Elrond Peredhel and Thranduil and Galadriel Lasgalen."

"This is a school?" Kili asked incredulously, shooting Fili a horror-filled look. "There are _kids_ here?"

He winced. He had forgotten Kili hadn't known about that. With everything that had happened, it had slipped his mind to tell Kili the finer points of the last vision of the bombed out Bag End that he had seen.

The thought of the crumbling shell of a mansion full of dead bodies brought a sense of urgency to him.

"You have all got to get out of here," Fili told them in a rush. "They're going to bomb this place!"

The atmosphere in the room changed instantly, alarm, fear, suspicion, and alertness mingling together in a cloud of tension.

"How do you know this?" the woman, Galadriel, asked him in a low voice, blue eyes as deep as the sea boring into him.

"I saw it," he explained, desperately wanting them to trust him to the point of having to consciously rein in his empathy. "You've got to believe me! A U.S. Army bomb is going to be dropped on this house and you're all going to die! And two men and a woman in DC meeting with the president are going to come back and get angry." Shock rippled through the Bag End mutants at that. "And then the woman and one of the men are going to attack the White House and it's going to _destroy_ us!"

He broke off with a sob. Kili was immediately at his side, wrapping his arms around Fili's shaking form and pulling him close. He pressed his face into Kili's neck, hating how overwhelmed he felt. He didn't really understand what he was feeling. It was like the enormity of what was happening was crashing over him. It felt like the whole world was standing at the edge of a cliff, in danger of plunging into darkness with just a jump or a push or an unfortunate stumble.

It was too much.

He felt pathetic as he continued to shake. He tried pressing closer to Kili, squeezing his eyes shut and attempting to block out the feelings.

"Easy, son," a soothing voice said from somewhere close behind him. "The more you fight it, the more lost you'll get. You have to focus on the present. Something in the here and now."

Stopping his fight against the tide of despair threatening to engulf him was difficult, but focusing on something in the here and now wasn't hard. Not with Kili, his anchor in everything else, next to him.

He could hear Kili's heart beating loud in his ear and latched onto the sound. Kili was here with him. He was _alive_ and _well_ and there was nothing threatening to destroy them right now.

Except for the bomb that was coming.

He snapped his eyes open with a gasp and looked up at the brunet in a panic. "We have to leave _now_."

"The others are evacuating the rest of the school," the soothing voice from early told him. Fili twisted his neck and saw that Professor Baggins was standing behind him with a concerned look on his face. "Your empathic and precognitive abilities are growing stronger and beginning to bleed together. You're a very powerful mutant, but if you remain untrained, you could end up hurting yourself."

Kili's arms tightened around him and he backed them away from the professor. "What do you know about it?" he demanded.

The older mutant held his hands up placatingly. "Nothing that I did not learn just now," he assured. "My mutation allows me to understand the abilities of others. That's why I became a teacher."

Fili sensed no lie in the professor and gently pried Kili's arms off of him and straightened. Kili wasn't as convinced but reluctantly released him from his embrace. The brunet grasped his hand tightly, though, and made sure to stick close to Fili's side.

"You never told us your names," Bilbo prompted, giving them an expectant look.

"I'm Fili," he replied. He sized up the professor for a moment before hesitantly adding, "This is Kili."

Surprise shot through Kili before he grinned over at Fili. "Does this mean we trust them?"

The blond frowned. "I trust Professor Baggins. I haven't decided about the others."

"You wouldn't be the first to have reservations about some of them," Bilbo commented in amusement. "But I can assure you that everyone here is trustworthy."

Fili could tell that the professor firmly believed that, but he wasn't sure he was ready to trust the other mutant's judgment. Not quite yet at least. "How are you getting everyone out of the school?" he asked, instead of commenting on Bilbo's statement.

"Tunnels," he answered. "Which we need to get to before they close. Follow me."

They had little choice but to follow the professor down a long corridor. Just when Fili was beginning to wonder just how big this house was, Bilbo turned towards the wall and pressed on the decorative chair railing molding. It really shouldn't have surprised them to see the nondescript section of the wall slide away to reveal a hidden stairwell.

"There are multiple entrances to these stairs throughout the mansion," the older mutant explained as he led them down. "The walls are fortified, but probably won't hold up against a bombing or anything. Once we get underground, though, we'll be safe. There's a heavy steel door at the entrance of the tunnel that should protect us from whatever portion of the blast manages to reach so far beneath the structure."

"Where does the tunnel lead?" Kili asked.

Bilbo glanced back at them sheepishly as they turned to take the next flight of stairs. "There's a campground further up the reservoir. It's about a twenty mile trek, though."

Dismay filled Kili. " _Twenty miles_? All underground?"

"The further away the exit, the safer the tunnel is," the professor reasoned. "And there are supply stores every mile. Everyone can take it as slow and easy as necessary."

Kili wrinkled his nose. "Underground though. I'm guessing there's no cell signals or wifi?"

Bilbo shook his head ruefully as Fili realized what exactly had Kili so apprehensive. While Fili always tried to distance himself from his abilities, Kili had enthusiastically embraced his own. Being cut off from the digital world completely would probably feel like losing a limb.

He squeezed the brunet's hand comfortingly, stepping closer to him as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Bilbo, everyone is accounted for," one of the mutants from earlier, Elrond, Fili thought, said. "I sent them on to wait at the supply store at the second mile marker. We tried reaching Thorin and the others on the phone, but they must already be on their flight here because it went straight to voicemail. We won't be able to contact them until we're out of the tunnel."

"Thorin?" Kili gasped. Fili could feel that something about the name rattled Kili, but he didn't understand the odd mix of hope and fear that filled his partner.

Bilbo gave the brunet an understanding smile. "Yes, Thorin Oakenshield, former president of Erebor."

Bitter disappointment filled Kili. "Oh."

His dejection obviously confused Bilbo and Elrond, but they quickly dismissed it. They ushered Fili and Kili into the tunnel in a rush before working together to close the heavy door that would protect the tunnel.

"What's wrong?" Fili asked in a low voice while the two older mutants were occupied with the door.

Kili shook his head and gave him a sad smile. "It's stupid," he muttered with a shrug. "It's just… My dad's name was Thorin too. Thorin Durin, though, and obviously not the president of some foreign country. I just… got my hopes up for a minute."

Fili brushed away the tear that leaked from the brunet's eye before hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, pressing a kiss to Kili's hair. "If I could give them back to you, I would."

Kili made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat even as he let himself be held. "It's been ten years. I should be over losing my parents by now. It shouldn't upset me this much."

He pulled back slightly to meet Kili's eyes. "It's okay to be upset about it sometimes," he told him seriously. "Your parents _deserve_ that, but they'd be proud that it hasn't stopped you from living your life."

Kili gave him a watery smile and nearly bowled Fili over from the amount of love he was directing at him. "They'd be grateful that you saved me and kept me living my life. And they'd probably be thrilled that you made me finish high school even with me being so stubbornly against it," he added with a fond roll of his eyes. "I think they would like you a lot. I'm really glad you found me when you did. And not just because I would have been blown to bits if you hadn't."

Fili smiled at him and brushed a kiss to his lips. "Me too, Kee," he whispered, pressing their foreheads together with a sigh. He closed his eyes at the reminder of that vision long ago that showed him Kili being engulfed by an explosion of flames, very similar, no doubt, to the explosion that was about to occur above them. "Me too."

tbc…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Elrond and Bilbo had set a fast pace as they walked deeper into the tunnel to meet up with the other mutants. Fili and Kili were desperately trying to keep up, but couldn't help dragging behind. Fili's limbs felt sluggish, and his head was spinning.

It wasn't until Fili stumbled about a mile in and Kili barely kept him from going to the ground that he realized what the problem was.

They hadn't eaten since they left the city. It seemed strange that that had been less than 24 hours ago. Ordinarily, going that long without food wouldn't have weakened them this much. When they were younger, sometimes eating once a day was a luxury they hadn't gotten, mostly because of Fili's caution. But with everything that had happened, it was no wonder their bodies were protesting.

"Easy," a deep voice soothed as strong hands grasped his shoulders to steady him. Fili blinked and turned his head to see Elrond next to him all of a sudden. When had that happened?

He tightened his grip on Kili's arm as Professor Baggins supported the brunet from the other side, not wanting Kili to be pulled away from him inadvertently.

Bilbo frowned at them both. "You're both dehydrated," he said disapprovingly. "When was the last time you ate or drank anything?"

"Yesterday morning," Fili admitted sheepishly.

"We've almost reached the first mile marker," Elrond stated. "We'll stop there and you both can eat something and get some water."

Fili could tell Kili wasn't happy about stopping, not wanting to be underground for any longer than necessary, no doubt, but he also was feeling guilty for some reason. Fili nudged him in the shoulder after they had gotten to the supply store, and Bilbo and Elrond had eased them down to lean against the wall.

"Why do you feel guilty?" he asked.

Kili shrugged and leaned against him with a sigh. "I should've got us both food and water earlier. Especially knowing how completely wiped you were after we were attacked in the library."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think of it either," Fili told him ruefully. "There were a few more pressing things than dinner."

"Well, we are grateful you got here when you did," Bilbo stated as the older mutants came back with their arms full of water bottles, beef jerky, and granola bars that they dumped into the younger two's laps. "Eat and drink as much as you want," he encouraged, cracking open his own bottle of water. "I don't think this store will be of much use with the school gone anyway."

Fili grabbed a pack of jerky and tore into it, ravenous now that food was set in front of him. Kili went for a granola bar and had it eaten in three bites.

"Why would the U.S. Army want to bomb a school?" Kili asked after he gulped down half a bottle of water, looking up at Bilbo and Elrond with a frown. "I mean, I know it's a mutant school, but it's still full of _kids_!"

Bilbo sighed at that and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his tweed jacket. "I don't know," he said with a displeased twist of his lips. "We thought that we were making progress with the government. That's the whole reason Thorin is meeting with the President. We thought he was committed to mutant rights."

"It troubles me that Bolg and Smaug were so near the school when the bomb was supposed to hit, though," Elrond commented thoughtfully.

"He followed us though," Kili pointed out.

"Did he?" Fili asked suddenly, remembering how he ran into Bolg on the train into White Plains. "Or did we just happen to cross paths on the road to the same place? Seems like a pretty big coincidence that they just happened to be on the same train otherwise."

Elrond's face turned grim. "Almost too big of a coincidence."

The Professor shook his head. "But how could the Brotherhood get their hands on a U.S. Army explosive? And why bother? If they wanted to destroy the school, why not use their abilities?"

"Why would mutants attack other mutants?" Kili interrupted with a furrowed brow, disgruntled confusion strong within him. "My parents always talked about the mutant community as supporting each other. What changed?"

"Erebor falling changed things," Elrond intoned sadly. "With no safe haven and no political state to lead the fight for equality, mutant-kind fractured. With no banner to rally under, we began fighting with each other about the best way to respond. Some wanted to attack, some wanted to hide."

Fili blinked down at the half-empty water bottle in his hand. He could understand those responses, and the clashes the two opposite views could have.

"And some of us," Bilbo chimed in with a smug smile, "realized that neither of those ways would change anything."

Fond exasperation filled Elrond at that, leaving Fili with the feeling that this was an argument long-since won by the Professor.

"Yes, well, it's been a long up-hill battle uniting most of the mutants," he stated. "The Brotherhood is the only group that remains opposed to our goal, but they are a large group of radicals."

"And what is your goal?" Fili asked warily.

"Coexistence," Bilbo answered simply. "For mutants to let go of their anger and humans to let go of their fear, and for us all to live in harmony."

He snorted at that. "There are humans that will never agree to that," he told him, thinking of his father.

Elrond's eyes hardened. "Yes, we are very much aware that there are those types of humans out there," he replied. "Those humans are the reason Erebor fell in the first place."

"Could they be behind the bombing of the school?" Kili asked suddenly as he ripped into a packet of jerky.

"There's no way they'd work with mutants," Bilbo said, but an odd sense of _right_ flowed through Fili making him believe that was _exactly_ what was going on.

He kept quiet as he munched on the remains of a granola bar before washing it down with water. He didn't quite trust the feeling. It felt more like a gut intuition than anything like a vision. No use saying anything if he wasn't sure.

"Well there's no use worrying about it now," Kili stated as he heaved himself up to his feet. He reached a hand down to Fili, which the blond took gratefully. "There's nothing we can do while we're stuck in this tunnel anyway."

Thankfully, the two older mutants didn't argue and just led them on. Fili was grateful that Kili had ended the discussion. It was making Fili distinctly uncomfortable, the odd sensations of _knowing_ , especially since for the most part he couldn't figure out _what_ he was supposed to know.

They trudged along, coming to the second mile marker sooner than Fili had expected. He was surprised at the number of mutants crowded into the cavernous tunnel waiting for them. He hadn't realized that the school was big enough to hold them all.

"It's you!" a high male voice called out as they came closer. Fili's eyes scanned the crowd to pick out who had said it and quickly found the young teen with a large smile pointing at them in joy. "Nori!" he cried, nudging the familiar mutant at his side with his elbow. "Look!"

"I can see, Ori," Nori said with a roll of his eyes, but gave Fili a smile and a nod all the same, gratitude underlying the gestures. "Didn't think we'd ever see you again."

Bilbo raised a questioning eyebrow as he looked between the two. "I didn't realize you were acquainted with Nori and Ori."

"He's the one who saved our lives!" Ori gushed, looking at Fili with hero-worship in his eyes.

Fili wasn't sure what to make of the admiration directed at him from the other teen. It wasn't a feeling that had ever really been directed at him before. He wasn't sure he liked the attention.

Judging by the jealousy that flared within Kili and the way the technopath stepped closer to him, he wasn't the only one who didn't like it.

"It seems he has a knack for saving lives, then," Elrond commented as they were joined by Galadriel and Thranduil.

"We sent Elrohir ahead to contact Thorin and the others," Galadriel informed them.

"Let us hope they don't do something foolish like attacking the White House," Thranduil drawled, disdain for the other mutants so palpable that Fili didn't need to be an empath to see it.

Fili scowled at his dismissive attitude. "You wouldn't be so flippant about it if you knew what it would lead to," he spat, Kili's broken eyes flashing through his mind.

The tall blond narrowed his eyes at him and made to step forward, but Galadriel stopped him with a touch to his elbow and a frown.

Fili turned away from him when he felt a targeted wave of love sent his way and a hand slip into his. He smiled softly at Kili.

His vision was _not_ going to come true.

They didn't waste much time in restarting their long hike through the tunnel. It was slow going, as some of the students at the school were fairly young. There were even a couple of kids that Fili was positive couldn't be older than five. They were all on-edge, which would have made them faster, he supposed, if they didn't jump at every little groan from the walls of the tunnel.

The longer they walked, the more withdrawn Kili became.

Fili was worried, but he understood. Even if he didn't like his abilities at times, if he suddenly was cut off from his empathy, he'd feel unbalanced. It would be like losing his sight or hearing. Kili being cut off from the technology he spent nearly every moment connected to had to be just as unbearable.

He was just trying to decide the best way to distract Kili when Elladan sidled up next to them with a grin. "So do we get to know your names yet?" he asked cheerfully.

Fili raised an eyebrow at him. "You know my name."

"But I don't know his," he said, leaning forward slightly to look around Fili at Kili.

"It's Kili," the technopath responded before Fili could say anything. The blond shot him a sharp look, but Kili just gave him a wide-eyed innocent look in response. "What? He's around our age! I really doubt that he was involved in the explosion that killed my parents."

Fili felt interest flare in Elladan at the words. "Your parents died in an explosion?" he asked curiously.

The empath scowled and moved closer to Kili. "None of your business," he snapped, not liking the odd understanding Elladan was feeling. "Where are Tauriel and Legolas?" he asked to changed the subject.

Elladan gave him a look that told him that he knew exactly what Fili was doing but he let it slide. "Near the back," he said, turning his head and nodding towards the back of the crowd. Fili looked back to see Tauriel and Legolas leading Smaug and Bolg, both with their hands tied behind their backs. "We couldn't just leave them to be blown away," Elladan continued, but Fili had already stopped listening.

Around each of the two prisoners' necks was a familiar metal collar.

"Fili?" Kili's voice broke through his shock as the technopath's worry forced him to look away. He hadn't even realized he had stopped walking until then. "What is it?"

"Those collars around their necks," he said hoarsely, looking at Elladan. "What are they?"

Shame and regret flood the other mutant. "Don't think we're horrible," he pleaded, unable to meet Fili's eyes. "It's the only way to keep them from hurting the students."

"What do they _do_?" Fili asked desperately, ignoring Kili's confusion at his vehemence.

"They neutralize the mutant gene," Elladan admitted. "They completely cut off a mutant's abilities."

Fili felt sick at the answer, remembering his vision showing Kili wearing the same type of collar. Kili had been operating with limited use of his abilities for about two hours and was already suffering for it. If he were locked up indefinitely in a cell cut off completely from them? Fili shuddered to think what that would do to Kili.

"I guess it's necessary…" Kili said uncertainly, horror at the thought battling with practicality.

"Who else has this type of technology?" Fili demanded to know.

"We didn't develop it," Elladan said defensively with a shake of his head. "We stole it from the Purifiers."

"Purifiers?"

"It's a group of human extremists," he explained, "headed by Colonel William Striker."

At the sound of his father's name, icy cold fear gripped Fili's heart along with a crippling sense of dread as a terrible knowledge filled him.

Every action he took to save Kili was leading him closer and closer to his father, and while Fili would never regret saving Kili from the fate he had seen, he couldn't help but be terrified at meeting his father again.

"Fili?" Kili murmured, concern reaching him through Fili's fog of fear.

"I'm fine," he muttered with a shake of his head, forcing him to stand straighter and continue walking.

He couldn't let a feeling he didn't even understand stop him. The Professor may have told him that his empathy and precognition was blending together, but that didn't mean he had to trust every paranoid feeling he had. He was jumping to conclusions.

He knew Kili didn't believe his assurances for a second, but the technopath didn't question him. He just held Fili's hand tightly as they continued their journey through the tunnel.

Fili focused on walking. He had averted the visions that had been haunting him, and he had no idea what was going to happen next. Right now, all that he could do was get out of this tunnel with Kili.

Then they could figure out their next move.

tbc…


End file.
